The Okugi Series
by elmo-doodle
Summary: Just after Sakura thought that life had finally settled down, and old dispute that happend 6 years ago in America between two powerful beings is being forced in to Tomoeda. Sakura and Syaoran find themselves caught in a whirlwind of new forces!
1. Chapter 1: Things to Change

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Card Captor Sakura. CLAMP does. And they did a brilliant job!!

Okay, so this is my first (...I think) CCS fanfiction! Also the first time I am posting something on I'm quite excited about the whole process . I know I'll say this again at the end of the document, but please! Read and review!

And enjoy!

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"Hoe! Syaoran-kun is returning today!"

Sakura jumped out of bed at 6am and promptly began taking her uniform out of the closest. The new school term started today and it was going to be her last year in Seijou Junior High. She hurriedly put on her uniform, brushed her auburn hair (which now came between her shoulder and her elbow) and rushed about her room trying to find her school-bag.

"Where did it go? I knew I put it here somewhere…" she muttered to herself, looking under her bed.

The bottom drawer of her desk slid open. "Sakura-chan, what are you doing up so early?" Kero asked, sleepily.

"Kero-chan!" Sakura squealed. "I'm sorry, did I wake you?" She continued her hunt for the bag. "I'm going to be early for school today so I can make a good impression!"

"Hmm," Kero replied, watching his Mistress run about in distress. "Say, Sakura? Didn't you leave your bag downstairs?"

"Hoee! I forgot!" Sakura cried, now tugging on her shoes. "There!" Standing up, she observed herself in the mirror. "How do I look, Kero-chan?"

Kero raised his eyebrow suspiciously. "Fine," he said. After a moment of contemplation he asked, "Why are you concerned about how you look? You never have been before."

Sakura sweatdropped. "Oh, no reason!" she lied.

Sakura turned around to observe her uniform from all angles. The Seijou Junior High uniform was very different from the one worn in Elementary school. The skirt was knee-length and grey, and the blouse was long-sleeved and white. A green and blue striped tie hung on the front of her blouse, and a green blazer was hanging behind her door. Grey tights and flat black shoes surrounded her bottom half, and her silky-smooth hair was tied up in a pony tail, with loose strands hanging down prettily.

"…Sakura?" Kero said. "You're going to be late if you stand and look at your reflection."

"Oh!" Sakura grabbed her blazer and checked the room one last time for anything she might have forgotten when her eyes fell on a small blue-black bear by the pillow on her bed. She picked it up Syaoran-bear fondly and gazed at the beady black eyes. _He's actually coming back…_

"Sakura!" Kero shouted.

"I'm going!" she said as she finally ran from the room. Kero could hear her running noisily down the stairs. _No wonder Touya-kun calls her 'kaijou', _he said to himself. He looked at the bear Sakura had handled and he flew over and floated in front of it. It was the first time he had really studied the bear close up, and, if he concentrated hard enough, he could sense a faint green aura surrounding it.

"I don't like this bear," he stated.

Sakura left the house not long after she abandoned her room. Her father was already up and making breakfast when she made it downstairs and her brother was sitting at the table drinking coffee. He greeted her with the usual 'morning kaijou', which Sakura, of course, scowled at. She hurriedly ate her breakfast, said her thanks and grabbed her schoolbag. She fastened her beloved roller skates on her feet and she left.

Sakura rolled gracefully along the side-walk, enjoying the cool morning breeze that was rushing past her. She didn't care what people thought of her roller skating to school; she enjoyed it. She skated past the spot where she used to wait for Yukito on school days. As she whisked past it, she turned around to watch the familiar spot disappear from view. Touya and Yukito would be starting college in mid-September. They were both going to a university in England; Touya to study Law, and Yukito to study Philosophy. Sakura would miss them both dearly, but they promised to come home for visits. She was concerned about what would happen if she needed Yue and Yukito was far away in England, but Kero had huffed and said that he could do a better job than that darn 'snow bunny.'

Sakura arrived at the school early and after taking her roller blades off at her locker and put her shoes on, she went outside to watch the football team practice. They were training really hard to beat the other schools in the championships this year after being knocked out of the winning spot the year before.

She didn't know how long she stood watching the boys play, but by the time she looked at her watch she realized that homeroom would be starting in 15 minutes.

"Hoe! I better hurry!"

--------

Syaoran walked through the tall gates of Seijou Junior High and took a turn to the left. Taking out a sheet of paper which he studied for a moment he sharply turned and walked to the right instead. Stopping abruptly, he listened intently. _I could have sworn I heard someone giggling…_

As he continued walking, Syaoran successfully found his locker and he inserted the combination which he had been given the previous day. When it didn't open after the combination was in, Syaoran pulled out the paper again and took another look at it. Satisfied that he did it right, he tried to open it again and failed. Noticing a small button in the middle of the lock, he pushed it and the locker door sprung open. He heard a faint shuffling behind him and he turned around. He studied the bushes in front of him through narrowed eyes and then turned back to his locker to put his school shoes on. When he closed the locker door, it immediately sprung open again. He shut it again but it didn't close. Getting impatient, he slammed the door shut and it stayed shut.

He stood still for a moment facing his locker. Without turning around he said, "I see you haven't changed one bit."

He heard a rustle behind him, and Daidouji Tomoyo stepped out from behind the bushes, camcorder in hand. "I just couldn't resist recording Li-kun's first day to Seijou Junior High."

Rolling his eyes, he finally turned around to face her. "It's good to see you again, Daidouji-san."

"And you, Li-kun," Tomoyo replied, putting her camcorder safely in her schoolbag. Syaoran started to walk towards his homeroom class, and Tomoyo walked alongside him. "Are you nervous about seeing Sakura-chan?" she asked.

Syaoran smiled slightly at the familiarity of Tomoyo being able to read him like a book. "Yes," he replied honestly. There was no point lying to Tomoyo.

"You left without Sakura-chan acknowledging her feelings for you, and so you never knew them yourself." Syaoran stayed silent, so she continued. "Sakura-chan was never good at reading in to things like that, but she has changed." She paused. "Do you still love her?"

Syaoran remained silent. Tomoyo smiled and said, "I thought so."

They walked in silence for several minutes before Syaoran slowed down and looked about uncertainly. "Ahh…I have no idea where I'm going," he admitted when he found himself in yet another unfamiliar corridor.

"What class are you in?" Tomoyo asked.

Syaoran retrieved his sheet of paper again and replied, "Class 3-1."

"Oh! How fortunate! That's mine and Sakura-chan's class!" she said gleefully. "Come, it's this way."

Tomoyo led them through a few more corridors and one flight of stairs before saying, "Our classroom is at the bottom of this corridor."

Syaoran nodded and followed her, not feeling like saying much.

Tomoyo, noticing his hesistance, asked, "How do you think Sakura-chan will react to seeing you?"

Syaoran thought for a moment before answering. "I think that she'll be too nervous to say anything more than 'welcome back.'" He paused. "I might even get a 'hoe' thrown in if I'm lucky," he added.

Tomoyo shook her head and said, "Sakura-chan will be very happy to see you, and she will not be afraid to express her happiness."

Syaoran smiled slightly again, stopping outside the classroom door. "You want to bet on it? The winner gets the knowledge of knowing that they know Sakura the best."

Tomoyo's eyes gleamed mischievously, and, very un-Tomoyo like, she said, "Deal on."

Syaoran slid open the door and stepped inside. It was a fairly full room and people where scattered in groups across it. This was all that Syaoran got to see before-

"Syaoran-kun!!"

Syaoran's view was blocked by a mass of auburn hair in his face. He stumbled back slightly as Sakura had thrown herself upon him and wrapped her arms around her neck.

"Hoe! I'm so glad to see you again!" she exclaimed.

After a moment Syaoran awkwardly patted her back. "Erm, I'm glad to see you too," he said weakly.

Sakura released him just as the sensei walked in. "Ohayo class! Please take your seats now!" he called.

When Sakura was out of earshot, Tomoyo said to Syaoran, "I believe I won that bet."

Syaoran shook his head, "No way, she practically screamed 'hoe'; I can still hear it ringing in my ears."

Tomoyo giggled. "Fine, then we both win."

"Fine."

Tomoyo took her usual seat beside Sakura, while Syaoran took the conveniently empty one behind her.

"Well, class," the sensei begun, "welcome to your final year of Seijou Junior High! My name is Matsuo-sensei and I will be your homeroom teacher for this year. As you all know you will take your entrance exams for Seijou Senior next year-" the class groaned. "I know, but these things must be done. Now, before I take the register I'd like to mention that we have a new student in our midst this year. Li Syaoran has joined us from Hong Kong. Some of you may remember him from Elementary school."

The class craned their necks to get a look at him, and some of his old friends, including Yamazaki Takashi, waved at him.

"Right," Matsuo-sensei continued, "after the register is taken you will be given your timetables for this year. Your teachers will expect you to be attentive and alert in their classes. They will also expect you to be hard-working and respectful…"

Syaoran sank back in his chair, blocking out the teacher's voice as he resumed his old past-time of staring at the honey-haired girl in front of him.

--------

"School is so hard already!"

Sakura, Tomoyo, Chiharu, Rika and Naoko sat on the grass in the warm April sun at lunch time. The morning had been very boring as all the teachers had given them similar speeches on what was to be expected of them. They had also decided to give them lots of work to do during class time, and this work was much harder than anything they'd ever had before.

"I do hope things will get easier," Rika said, unpacking her lunch.

"We're only finding it hard because we haven't been to school in a while," Chiharu said. "Were no used to working so much in a few hours. We'll get used to it a few days."

"I hope so," Sakura said. She already had enough trouble with math without needing it to be harder.

The girls talked about their holidays as they ate their lunch, and they began to relaxing after the taxing morning. On the other side of the lawn Takashi and Syaoran were leaning against the wall.

"How are things going with Mihara-san?" Syaoran asked.

"Fine," Takashi replied, "we spent a lot of time together over the holidays and we've been getting along better. She doesn't throttle me as frequently these days," he added.

Syaoran chuckled. Takashi raised an eyebrow. "That must be the first time in my life that I have heard you laugh, Li-kun."

"People change," he responded, looking over at Sakura.

Takashi opened one of his eyes slightly and followed Syaoran's eye-line. Smirking, he closed his eye and asked, "Did you change for her?"

Syaoran thought about this question for a moment. _She's the one who changed me,_ he thought to himself. "So what are the teachers like in this school?" Syaoran asked.

"Some are okay," Takashi replied, accepting the change of topic, "but there are some that you need to be careful around. The Math, Japanese and Geography teachers are alright, but the Science and History ones are probably the worst. Yamada-sensei particularly enjoys giving us essays to write for her."

"Great," Syaoran said sarcastically. "It's not that different than the schooling in Hong Kong."

"What made you decide to come back to Tomoeda?" Takashi asked, genuinely interested.

"The need to escape my sisters," Syaoran replied, "and Meilin's death threats."

Takashi laughed.

--------

The next few days went by in a blur for Sakura. The school work did not pile up on her, much to her surprise. Touya had gotten her worked up about the workload for no reason. She found she was even coping with the math work set for them and was even more surprised when she saw that she was getting it right.

Even if there wasn't much work, there still wasn't enough time to get the chance to talk to Syaoran. She hadn't had a proper conversation with him since he had arrived. She could have talked to him in the mornings but she had slipped back into her habit of being almost late for school again.

On the fourth day, Sakura had arrived at homeroom one minute before the class bell rang and collapsed in her seat panting.

"Ohayo, Sakura-chan," Tomoyo said to her exhausted friend.

"Ohayo," Sakura responded when she caught her breath. Turning around in her seat she said, "Ohayo, Syaoran-kun."

Syaoran looked up from where he was studying the desk. "Ohayo."

Sakura was about to make conversation with him when Matsuo-sensei walked in to the room.

"Now class," he called, "we have another new member joining us this year. Please welcome Kusatsu Taisho, who has transferred from further up north. I trust you all to be friendly to him and make him feel at home."

"Hai!" the class replied.

"Kusatsu-san, you may come in," Matsuo-sensei called out to the door.

The door slide open and the boy who walked in was one of those people who would stand out in a crowd. He was medium in height, fairly well built and had short, messy dark blonde hair. His eyes were the most unusual feature about him: they were a dark brown; so dark, in fact, that they could almost have been black. Kusatsu Taisho stood at the front of the room and bowed slightly to the class.

"Kusatsu-san, would you like to take that seat at the middle of the centre row?" the sensei said.

"Yes, sensei," Taisho said. He spoke with a strange accent, Sakura noticed as he went to take the seat on the other side of Tomoyo. Sakura could tell that behind her, Syaoran was studying the new boy with caution, and she had no doubt that he would find something suspicious about him. Sakura almost giggled at the thought.

"What do you think of new student, Sakura-chan?" Tomoyo asked at break time that day.

"He looks very unusual," Sakura replied. "But not in a bad way."

"Yes, he is quite different, isn't he?"

Sakura and Tomoyo were walking around outside to pass the time until class started again.

"He is also quite attractive, ne, Sakura-chan?" Tomoyo asked her.

Sakura giggled. "Yes," she said, "he is attractive in a handsome way."

"I'm glad you think so," came a strange accent from behind them. Sakura turned around and saw to her horror that Kusatsu Taisho had been right behind them while they were talking about him.

"Kusatsu-kun!" Sakura cried, feeling her cheeks redden from embarrassment. "I didn't know you were there!"

"Obviously," he said, smiling at her. "I don't believe we've been introduced."

"Daidouji Tomoyo," Tomoyo said, bowing slightly.

"And I'm Kinomoto Sakura," Sakura bowed too.

"Sakura…that's Japanese for 'cherry blossom', isn't it?" Taisho asked, his brows furrowed in concentration for a moment before he broke in to a grin. "It suits you very well."

"Hoe…" Sakura blushed.

"It's very nice to meet the both of you," he said, bowing to them.

"Where are you from, Kusatsu-kun?" Tomoyo asked politely. "I have never heard such a peculiar accent from further up north."

"Ah, well, I'm not originally from the north," he replied honestly. "My family moved here a few years back. We used to live on the boarder between England and Scotland, and I managed to pick up a mixture of those two accents. It's quite unusual, isn't it?"

"It's unusual in an interesting way, if that makes any sense," Sakura told him. "Your name is Japanese though," she stated.

"My father has Japanese relatives, which explains his surname," he explained, "and my mother liked the name 'Taisho', and she told me that she wanted her first born son to be named that."

"Do you have any siblings?" Tomoyo inquired.

"No," he replied, almost sadly, "they decided that one child was enough. It gets very lonely sometimes."

The bell signaling the end of break sounded across the grounds.

"I believe that is the start of P.E?" he asked. Tomoyo and Sakura nodded. "Well, I guess I'll see you later. Goodbye, Daidouji-san, Kinomoto-san!"

"Bye, Kusatsu-kun!" They waved at his retreating back.

"We better hurry, Sakura-chan," Tomoyo said, gently pulling her friends arm in the direction of the girls changing room. "We don't want to be late."

--------

At lunch time, Sakura sat underneath the cherry blossom tree alone. Rika, Chiharu and Naoko were all trying out for the volleyball team, and Tomoyo was auditioning for the school choir. Sakura herself had signed up for cheerleading tryouts, but they weren't being held until after school.

"Can I join you?" a familiar voice asked.

Sakura looked up from where she sat and saw Syaoran standing above her.

"Syaoran-kun!" she said. "Of course you can."

Syaoran sat down beside her and leaned against the tree. They sat in silence for a moment before Syaoran said, "This spot seems familiar."

Sakura smiled, glad that he had noticed. "It is," she told him. "There," she pointed to another cherry blossom tree on the other side of the fence to her left, "is where you confronted me about the Clow Cards."

Syaoran winced slightly at the memory. "Oh."

"It seems like so long ago, doesn't it?" she asked. Syaoran nodded. "I can't believe that it's been almost six years since Clow Cards escaped and we had to capture them." She paused to look up at the clock tower which stood tall amongst the school buildings. "Remember when you got hit in the face with that football?" she said, smiling.

Syaoran smiled along with her. "It's not easy repeating the same day three times. You try to remember to hit a ball while having an important conversation." His smile turned in to a grin. "At least I didn't bring the wrong books for the next day."

"Hoe," Sakura pouted, "I was so confused after the Time that I didn't know what day it was!"

Syaoran chuckled at her. The sound was so unfamiliar to her that she started a little. "I've never heard you laugh before," she said to him.

"Yeah, so I've been told," he said. "Everyone seems to think that I can't laugh."

"It's just so unusual," Sakura said. "When we knew you in Elementary, you hardly talked to anyone and you rarely smiled. But I like this change in you, Syaoran," she continued. "It makes you more approachable."

Syaoran huffed uncharacteristically. "Have I not always been approachable?" he asked.

"No," Sakura replied, leaning her head back against the tree and smiling. "The scowling kind of drove people away." She turned her head to look at him and, instead of the scowl she was expecting to now see, there was a soft smile in its place. _He looks so at peace,_ she told herself. Sakura observed Syaoran for the first time since his arrival. His brown hair had grown slightly, but it was still as messy as ever. His face had become more shaped and somehow his facial features altogether seemed softened. His discarded blazer allowed Sakura to see his well toned arms beneath the short sleeved shirt and Sakura's eyes back up to his face. She found herself staring at his soft brown eyes. She quickly looked away and felt a faint pink hue creep in to her cheeks.

"Sakura," he suddenly asked, "can you hear the bell from all the way back here."

"I'm not sure," she said, frowning. "I haven't been this far out at all since term began."

Syaoran raised his right arm to look at his watch. "Shit!" he exclaimed. "We're already 5 minutes late for class!" he said, grabbing his blazer and standing up.

"Don't swear, and hoee!" Sakura exclaimed. She accepted Syaoran's extended hand and he pulled her to her feet. Without either of them noticing, the held on to each others hand until they reached the science classroom, where they prepared themselves for a scolding.

--------

"Sakura-chan, are the cheerleader tryouts after school today?" Tomoyo asked as they packed their bags at the end of homeroom.

"Hai!" Sakura replied, swinging her bag over her shoulder. "I'm kind of nervous."

"You don't need to be," Tomoyo said. "You were in the gymnastics team for the past two years and you were amazing. You'll do well in the tryouts."

"Thanks," Sakura mumbled, embarrassed.

"Did I hear correct, Kinomoto-san?" Taisho had approached the girls while they were talking. "You are trying out for the cheerleading team?"

"Hai, but I don't know if I'll do well enough to get in," she told him.

"Don't worry your self," he said. "If you take a deep breath and relax, I'm sure you'll do brilliantly."

Sakura smiled at him. "Thank-you, Kusatsu-kun!"

"Anytime," he told her, smiling back. "I must be off; I've got basketball tryouts now," he said as he turned to leave.

"Good luck!" Sakura called after him. Turning around she noticed the empty desk behind hers. "Tomoyo-chan? Did you see where Syaoran-kun went to after homeroom?"

"He left in quite a hurry," Tomoyo replied. "Maybe he had some important work to do."

"Maybe," Sakura said as they walked out the door.

Tomoyo bid farewell to Sakura as they went their separate ways. Sakura walked towards the gym and upon entering it, she saw that there was actually not that many people there for the tryouts.

"All right people listen up!" called one of the girls in Sakura's year. "These tryouts are to test your skill of flexibility, co-ordination and how good your teamwork is. First of all, we need you to change in to your P.E. uniforms so that you don't feel too constricted in those school shirts. Meet back here in 10 minutes!"

Everyone headed towards the changing rooms talking excitedly on the way. Sakura looked around and found that not one person she knew was doing the tryouts. _Hoe! _she thought, _I'm going to be on my own!_

_--------_

Sakura sat on the swings in King Penguin park after the tryouts. Luckily, she had been one of the few who had made it to the team. One of the girls in the team had known about her gymnasts abilities, and had told the other members. Being a gymnast was apparently what they were looking for, so Sakura and two others who had been good in athletics made it through the tryouts.

Swinging gently, Sakura kicked at the soil beneath her feet. Her school bag lay in front of her, alongside her P.E. kit (her school uniform was inside it; she had kept her P.E. uniform on). She was wearing her P.E. shirt, white shoes and ankle socks, and a green skirt which came to just above her knees. She had tied her hair back for the tryouts, and it now hung loosely at her shoulders.

Swinging a little higher, Sakura let her mind wander. Life had been very quiet since she had transformed the cards and Eriol had returned to England. For four years nothing had happened. Kero had told her that the trouble was over, but Sakura didn't think so. The peaceful life she had lived for the past four years had been more unnerving than the threat of strange forces about her. _It's too quiet, _she told herself, _and someday, the quiet will break._

Sakura jumped of the swing and landed gently on her feet. She was just about to bend down to pick up her bag when an unnatural wind surrounded her. Straightening up, she spun around. The wind had stopped as soon as she had felt it. She turned her back again and the wind returned. This time the wind was ice cold and Sakura felt a strong, unknown presence surrounding her. Checking to make sure no one was around, she took her key out from around her neck and, instead of holding it in front of her like she used to do, she put her arm behind her back. Her Star Circle surrounded her and, seconds later, the staff appeared in her hand. Sakura silently thanked Kero for teaching her to release the staff without speaking out loud. It really made things quicker.

The strange wind hit her again and almost knocked her over. This time when she turned around, she saw the wind was actually black. It was hardly wind at all; it was more like black mist. The mist changed direction and headed back towards Sakura. She skillfully dodged it and watched as it turned around and again came towards her.

"Fly!" Sakura cried out as she hit the card. The snow-white wings appeared on her back and she soared in to the air. When she was high enough, she looked down and saw the mist rise upwards so fast that Sakura had just enough time to move out of the way. She flew around trying to shake the strange mist off but it was intent on following her. Sakura accidentally made a wrong move and the mist seemed to enclose around her, binding her. She struggled against it and it binded her even tighter. Then without warning, it made a plummet for the ground. Sakura was struggling frantically at this point and, at the last moment, she broke free. She tried to land evenly on the ground, but instead she toppled and fell, hard. Fly returned and Sakura groaned at the hard impact. The mist rushed past her again and Sakura looked from the ground.

The mist had come before her and started to swirl around like it was caught in a whirlpool. To Sakura's surprise and horror, and figure started to form in the midst of the swirling mist. First there were four paws, then four legs, a body, a tail and finally a head. The mist disappeared and Sakura lay shocked on the ground.

There, before her, stood a large, majestic black tiger. Silver stripes ran across its body, and its eyes were a strange golden-yellow colour that glowed.

The beast opened its mouth and roared menacingly at her. Sakura broke out of her shock and quickly stood up. The tiger lunged for her the moment she got on her feet and Sakura was almost sliced by the sharp, black claws. It rapidly turned about and made another attack for her.

"Jump!" Sakura shouted and she leaped out of the way before it could get to her. She landed in a tree where she thought she would have at least a few seconds to think of a plan. The cold breeze rushed past her again and she gasped when she turned around and found herself staring right into the face of the beast. Sakura hastily jumped down from the tree but upon landing, she found the beast in front of her yet again.

"Windy!" she called. Windy soared out of the card and made a beeline for the tiger. The tiger was too quick and it evaded Windy by turning into the mist and flying away. Windy returned and while Sakura was picking up her next choice of card, a sharp, slicing pain shot through her midriff. Falling backwards onto the ground, she saw the tiger standing above her, its claws out on one of its black paws. Sakura didn't trust herself to look down, but she was sure that she was bleeding. Throwing her next card in to the air, she shouted, "Firey!"

This time the tiger didn't have time to move before it found itself encased in a howling fire. The beast roared in pain and Sakura took this chance to jump away from it. Firey did not hold out long before the beast overcame it, and Firey was forced to return. Sakura leaped up to the top bar of the swing set and wobbled slightly as she tried to find her footing. As soon as she was steady, the tiger had appeared in front of her again, and it slowly stalked towards her across the bar.

_Think, _she told herself, _there must be something you can do! Running away from it obviously isn't going to help!_

She reached the end of the bar and skillfully turned and leaped away. This time she landed on top of the King Penguin slide. Spinning around, she expected to see the tiger again, but there was nothing. She scanned the dimly lit park for any sign of the dark mist, but she could not see it.

"Where is it?" she said. "It's still here; I can feel its presence…"

The cold wind came so suddenly and so strongly that Sakura did not expect it. She stumbled backwards slightly and found herself toppling from the very top of the slide.

"HOE!!" she cried as gravity pulled her to the ground.

Sakura was stopped inches from the ground by another magically wind, but this one was warm and familiar. There was another presence…

"Sakura!"

She looked up and to her relief she saw Syaoran running towards her. She stood up, wincing slightly as she did so.

"Syaoran-kun!" she said, as soon as he had reached her. "What are you doing here?"

"I was walking home when I felt a strange force," he said, panting slightly (_He must have run, _Sakura thought), "and then I felt you using your magic. What is it? What's wrong?"

Sakura opened her mouth to explain, but instead she shouted, "Watch out!" and she quickly pushed herself and Syaoran over. The black tiger leapt high above their heads and landing a distance away from. Sakura, lying on top of Syaoran said, "_That's_ what's wrong." She pushed herself on to her feet and Syaoran followed suit.

"That's the strange force?" he asked, his sword ready in his hand.

"Do you see any other strange creatures trying to attack us?" she retorted, holding her staff in front of her.

"Don't get picky with me."

"I'm not."

"Good."

"Good."

"So what do we do?"

"I was kind of hoping you would know," Sakura said, as she and Syaoran backed away from the advancing tiger.

Syaoran rolled his eyes. "Okay, let's think," he said, carefully watching the beast. "It's a dark force."

"Thanks, I already noticed that."

"And it doesn't seem to like us."

"Really? I thought we were getting along so well," Sakura said, edgily.

"When did you become so sarcastic?" Syaoran asked her, a little amazed at this new side of Sakura.

"About the same time when you started pointing out the obvious," Sakura replied.

"Have you tried sealing it?" Syaoran asked, ignoring her comment.

Sakura stole a quick glance at him before setting her eyes back on the now growling tiger. "I didn't think of that," she replied honestly, "but would it work?"

"You're the Card Mistress," Syaoran told her, "if there's anyone in the world who can seal a force, it's you."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence."

"You're welcome," Syaoran said. "What does this thing not like?"

"It seemed to hate Firey," Sakura said.

"Right." Syaoran took out his ofuda and prepared to call on the fire. "When I call out the fire, you'll need to seal it quickly."

"Okay," Sakura said, determined. "Hoee! Wait! I don't know the sealing spell!"

Syaoran smiled. _That_ was the Sakura he knew; the determined girl one second and then the panicked girl the next. He didn't like the serious, sarcastic side to her; it kind of scared him.

"You're the Card Mistress," he repeated to her, and he could feel Sakura roll her eyes. "You can just make up a new spell. Don't worry it'll come to you. Ready?"

"No."

"Tough." Syaoran called on the fire just in time; the tiger had taken it's leap but before it could reach them, it had been caught in a cage of powerful fire.

"Now, Sakura!"

Sakura concentrated hard and called out the first words that came to her. "By the Power of the Stars, I, Sakura, command you to resign to a new form of contract!" She didn't know the type of card, and calling it a 'dark card' didn't feel right. "Return!" she called. She knew the spell wouldn't be as strong without knowing the card's name, so she channeled all her powers to concentrate on sealing the force.

The tiger gave one last roar before it dissolved in to the mist again, but it didn't change in to the form of a card as Sakura had expected. The mist swirled around the air before surrounding Sakura and Syaoran briefly, and then disappearing.

They stood in silence for a moment. Sakura was about to ask what had happened, when she began to sway dangerously.

"Whoa!" Syaoran said as he stood before her and steadied her by the shoulders. "Sakura? Sakura! What's wrong?"

The pain suddenly sliced through her stomach again and she doubled over. Her knees hit the ground and she wrapped her arms around her aching midriff. Syaoran kneeled down in front of her, still holding onto her shoulders.

"It's okay," Sakura gasped as the pain shot through her. "It's just a scratch."

Syaoran gently pulled her arms away from her waist, and was shocked to see them covered in blood. His eyes immediately shot to her waist, and he was horrified to see the bottom of her shirt soaked with blood.

"You call that 'just a scratch'?" Syaoran asked as he tried to get a look at the cut, but Sakura wouldn't let him. "What happened?"

"The tiger," she gasped out, "caught me off guard." Her eyes wandered over to her bloodied arms. She felt her head go light. "Oh," she said before passing out.

"Hey!" Syaoran caught her and carefully set her on the ground. He took a look at her pale face and felt her pulse. She was fine, but she had lost a lot of blood. Knowing that if he took her back to her own house, he would be confronted by awkward questions from Touya and possibly a beating.

Sighing, Syaoran gently scooped Sakura up in his arms, gathered their bags skillfully with his hand, and started to walk towards his apartment.

--------

Getting home had not been easy for Syaoran. He didn't want to know how it would look if people saw him carrying a passed-out girl with blood on her shirt. He therefore avoided any streets he knew to be crowded with people, and he had successfully made to the bottom of the block of apartments. He paused inside the door of the lounge to check that no one was inside, and he quickly walked across it and ascended the stairs. When he reached the fourth floor, he awkwardly got his key out and opened the door. Chucking the bags down and shutting the door behind him, he sighed in relief. He took a look at Sakura and was relieved to find that a bit of colour had returned to her cheeks.

He carried her into the spare bedroom and set her carefully down on the bed. Sakura mumbled incoherently as she started to slowly regain consciousness. Syaoran stared at the blood-soaked shirt she was wearing, and he could now distinctly make out several tears in the material. Carefully, very carefully, he lifted the bottom of her shirt up slightly and, across her stomach were four long, mildly deep cuts. The cuts seemed to still be slowly bleeding, and her stomach was covered in fresh and dry blood. Syaoran quickly hurried out of the room and into the bathroom to retrieve the first aid kit and some wet towels. Pausing by the bathroom door, he eyed a small bottle containing a green substance. Picking it up, he eyed the label and then carried it out of the room with him.

When he got back to the spare room, he placed a wet towel across Sakura's forehead. Her eyelids opened slowly, and her emerald green eyes beneath searched out her surroundings.

"Wh- where…?" she mumbled.

"It's alright," Syaoran told her softly. "You're in my apartment. I need to treat your wounds so they don't get infected." Sakura made to sit up but Syaoran gently but firmly pushed her back. "No," he stated. "You'll only pass out again if you look."

Sakura relented and Syaoran, sure that she wouldn't attempt to get up again, took another wet towel and began cleaning around the cuts. Sakura gasped in pain and Syaoran mumbled apologies. He took a small bit of wet cloth and used it to remove the blood which had gotten on her arms. When he finished, he took out a bottle of antiseptic and another towel.

"Um," he began, "this is going to sting. A lot."

"Yeah, thanks for that," Sakura said, her speech coming back to her.

"So what were you doing in the park, anyway?" Syaoran asked her as he began to apply the liquid.

Sakura gasped again and grabbed the bed sheet tightly with both hands. "I was coming home from cheerleading tryouts and I decided to wander through the park first."

"How did the tryouts go?" he asked.

"I made the team."

"Congratulations."

"Thanks," Sakura gasped as the antiseptic stung at her. "Anyway, I decided to sit on the swings for a while, and that's when the force appeared." She paused as Syaoran continued to clean her wounds. "What were you doing so late at school?"

"Soccer tryouts," he told her.

"Is there any point on asking if you made the team or not?" she asked smiling slightly. She knew that Syaoran was excellent at soccer and that the team could do with a person with his skill.

"I got in, if that's what you mean," he said, also smiling. They remained in silence for a few minutes while Syaoran finished with the antiseptic. He picked up the bottle with the green substance in it. "I'm going to put a stronger healing ointment on the cuts," he told her.

"What is it?" she asked.

"It's an herbal remedy that Wei taught me," Syaoran explained, opening the bottle and dabbing some of the ointment on to a dry cloth. "It takes away the pain and helps to speed up the healing process." He applied the ointment to the cuts and, to Sakura's surprise, it did not sting. In fact, it created a pleasant cooling sensation around her midriff.

Syaoran set the ointment to one side a picked up a set of bandages. "Uh, Sakura?" he asked awkwardly. "Could you sit up a moment? I need to bandage up your waist."

Sakura nodded and as she moved to sit up, she found that she could not feel any pain in her stomach. That ointment really worked! As Syaoran wrapped the bandage around her waist Sakura found it hard to sit still. Every time Syaoran's hand gently brushed against her ticklish side she squirmed and giggled, while Syaoran gently scolded her and told her to sit still.

When he had finally tied off the bandage, he gently poked her side and said, "All done."

Sakura giggled again. She sobered up and caught Syaoran's wrist as he started packing up the first aid kit. He looked up in to her eyes and Sakura briskly leaned forwards and planted a soft, short kiss on his cheek. "Thank you," she said.

Syaoran felt himself blush as he replied, "You're welcome." He looked at her ruined shirt and said, "Do you want something else to wear?"

Sakura shook her head. "It's okay; I have my school blouse." She looked around the room. "Where is my bag anyway?"

"It's out in the hall; I'll go get it for you." Syaoran left and returned moment later with Sakura's P.E. kit in hand. He left the room as she changed in to her school shirt. She stepped out in to the hall.

"I should really get home," she said as she moved to pick up her schoolbag.

"I'll walk you there," Syaoran said, offering to take her bags.

"No, it's okay, you've helped me enough," Sakura argued. "I'll be fine."

"After what happened this afternoon?" Syaoran asked. "No way, I'm not letting you walk home in the dark when you've been injured."

Sakura pouted. "I can look after myself," she stated.

"I know, but I don't want you getting hurt any more." Syaoran managed to prize the bags out of her hands and into his own. "Come on," he said.

Sakura huffed but followed him out of the apartment all the same.

--------

The next day at school, Sakura told Tomoyo all about what had happened in the park. Tomoyo was worried when Sakura told her that she had been injured but brightened up when she was told that Syaoran had helped her dear Sakura-chan. Tomoyo then went starry-eyed as she said, "This means that I'll have another chance to record Sakura-chan as she fights the new forces!"

Sakura sweatdropped as she watched her friend mentally plan out outfits for her to wear.

At lunch time, Sakura left her friends and went in search of Syaoran. She couldn't spot him in the playground and he wasn't on the grassy area. Then Sakura tried something she had never done before. She closed her eyes and focused on Syaoran's aura. She felt a soft green aura to her right, and, when she opened her eyes, she smiled as she saw the direction from which the aura was coming from. She walked around to the far end of the school and headed straight for the cherry blossom tree. There was no one sitting at the bottom of it, and Sakura looked up.

Syaoran was sitting on one of the branches halfway up the tree. "I felt your aura reaching out to me," he told her, not taking his eyes off the cloud he was staring at. "So much pink isn't good for me." He looked down at her and smiled. "Do you want me to…"

He watched Sakura easily climb up the tree and rest beside him on the branch he resided on.

"…come down?" he finished, staring in amazement at Sakura. "When did you learn to do that?"

"Gymnastics comes in handy every once in a while," she said. "I wanted to thank you again for last night."

"Did your brother say anything when you got home?" Syaoran asked her.

"No," Sakura sighed in relief, "he wanted to know why I was so late, so I just told him that I had hung back to talk to some friends."

"And the stuffed animal?"

"I told Kero-chan about the force," Sakura said. "He tried to sense the force that had surrounded me, but he couldn't identify it any better than we could. He just said that we need to be on our guard and to expect-"

"-the unexpected," Syaoran finished off. "Life's going to be pretty hectic now, isn't it?"

"Yes," Sakura said, gazing at the clouds. "With a new force out there, things are definitely going to change." They sat in silence for a moment before Sakura asked, "Syaoran-kun? Do you remember when we were eleven, and you said that I could call you when I needed help?"

"Yes," said Syaoran, thinking back at the memory:

_Sakura was watching Syaoran glare at Eriol behind him, and was wondering what was wrong with him. His glaring was starting to freak her out!_

_They walked along in silence for a few minutes._

"_Did anything strange happen that night?" Syaoran asked, turning his head towards Sakura._

_She shook her head._

_Syaoran regarded her for a long moment and looked into her eyes. "If something happens…" he began._

_Sakura continued to watch him._

"…_don't go running off by yourself. Let me know," he told her. Then he broke their eye contact and looked down at the ground. "Y-you're a little on the risky side, so…"_

_Sakura nodded and smiled. "Sure!"…_

"I'm going to need all the help I can get to stop these new forces," Sakura continued, "and from what we saw last night, they're very strong."

Syaoran nodded.

"…and I was wondering," Sakura said, steadily, "if your offer still stands."

Syaoran looked at her, and she turned her head to look him in the eyes. After a second of silence he said, "Of course it does."

Sakura smiled at him, and held out her pinky finger on her right hand. "Promise?" she asked.

Syaoran held out his own pinky finger and connected it with hers. "Promise," he said. His eyes danced with amusement.

A very faint ringing sound reached their ears in the silence that surrounded them. They looked at each other.

"Oh no/shit!" Sakura and Syaoran exclaimed together.

Syaoran jumped down from the tree as Sakura scolded him.

"Don't swear!"

"I can't help it," he retorted, standing below the branch, ready to help Sakura descend.

"Yes you can and you will!" she told him as she slid off the branch and into his arms.

"You can tell me off later, but right now we're going to be late for science; again!" Syaoran put Sakura down and grabbed her hand. Together they ran towards the school building, arguing as they went.

A shadowed figure behind the bushes listened to their playful bickering as they rushed to class. The figure smirked and walked away. "It will take more than a promise to help you this time," it said as it disappeared in to the shadows.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

**This chapter was re-edited slightly to better suit the story line.**

Ooo, a creepy figure in the shadows! It's very cliché, I must admit. How did you like the first chapter? I really didn't expect it to be this long, considering the planning for it was _very _short. Although it did take me 3 days to write it; and by that I mean I wrote it in unequal amounts of the three days. I wrote most of it today . I would have finished it in a shorter amount of time, but I got distracted at the start because a spider decided to slide down the wall. I promptly ran out of the room at that point. And Word decided to crash on me halfway through this, but thankfully it recovered the work. If it didn't, there would have been hell to pay.

Chances are I won't post this first chapter until I've completed all the chapters in this season (there will be two seasons adjoining onto each other), so when you read these end comments, remember they were written in the past ooooooooooooo)

elmo-doodle xxx

8th August 2007


	2. Chapter 2: The American Kid

**Disclaimer:** I don't own CCS. If I did, it wouldn't have ended. LONG LIVE CLAMP!!

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"Tomoyo-chan! What will you be doing this weekend?"

It was Saturday afternoon and the half-day at school was finished. Their first week was finally over and everyone was looking forward to a break.

"Mother and I will be going up to Tokyo for the weekend," Tomoyo said in response to Sakura's question. "And you, Sakura-chan?"

"I'm helping Syaoran-kun fix up his apartment!" Sakura said, picking up her schoolbag. "It's very dull and could do with some colour."

Behind her, Syaoran scowled. "It's not that bad," he said, defensively. "It's just a little grey and…cold."

"And were going to fix that," Sakura told him, grabbing his arm and dragging him out of the classroom. "Bye, Tomoyo-chan!" She said, waving at her friend.

"Goodbye, Sakura-chan," she responded, waving back.

"You don't have to help me," Syaoran told her when they had left the school grounds. "I can do it on my own."

"Syaoran, you're a boy," Sakura stated, as if the reason were simple.

"Okay," he started, "now _you're_ the one pointing out the obvious."

"What I mean is," she continued, "you need a woman's touch to make your apartment less…reproachful."

Syaoran huffed. "I know what colour I'm going to paint it. Doesn't that count for something?"

"You're painting it green, aren't you?" No reply. "I thought so. Well," she smiled happily, "you're just going to have to accept that I'm not going to let you decorate on your own!"

Syaoran sighed inwardly.

--------

"Okay," Sakura said, sitting on the floor and studying the painting plans. "So you're bedroom will be painted forest green, the spare room white, and the living room very light orange and the hallway also white?" She shuffled through the pages. "I underestimated you, Syaoran; you do have everything sorted!"

"See?" he said, opening a tin of white paint. "I guess growing up with four sisters really helped me."

"Hmm…even so, you haven't chosen a colour for the kitchen or any carpet."

"The kitchen will be blue," Syaoran told her, "and the carpets will be cream."

Sakura giggled. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were gay, Syaoran."

He glared at her. "Are you gonna help me?"

"Hai!" Sakura got off the floor and together they proceeded to paint the living room wall. They worked mostly in silence, only talking to point out where each other had missed a spot. It didn't take long for the both of them to finish the living room and they individually proceeded in to the bedrooms. That took them another hour each and, by the time they were finished, Sakura was exhausted.

"Hoe…" she said, collapsing down on the sofa. "I never knew painting was such hard work! I wish I could create a card that could decorate for me!"

"Well, we've got most of it done," Syaoran said, handing her a cup of tea and sitting down next to her with his own cup. "And besides, it takes a lot of power to create a card."

"Thanks!" Sakura said as she accepted the tea. "And for your information, I have created a card."

Syaoran stared at her. "You did? When?"

Sakura turned slightly red. "Oh…just before you left for Hong Kong."

"You never told me," he said, taking a mouthful of the tea. "What is the card called?"

"It, um, doesn't have a name," she replied, nervously looking in to her cup.

"Can I see it?" he asked.

Sakura hesitated for a moment before nodding. She put her cup on the coffee table in front of them and took out her cards from her pocket. Shuffling through them, she found the unnamed card and looked at it for a moment. Then, she handed it to him.

Syaoran studied the card for a moment. He felt his stomach clench uncomfortably when he saw that the picture on the card. A heart enfolded by two wings was on the front and Syaoran felt his stomach lurch again when he remembered that Sakura had said she had created it just before he left…did he really cause her that much pain?

Handing the card back to her, Syaoran said, "It's very unusual, especially since it isn't named." He paused. "Did you tell the stuffed animal about it?"

Sakura nodded. "Kero-chan said that the card needs to be given a purpose before it can be named, such as joining with a new card or showing it's abilities in a time of need."

Sakura placed the card carefully in to her pocket again and reached out her right hand to retrieve her cup of tea. Before she could reach it though, Syaoran's hand enclosed itself around her right wrist.

Sakura looked up at him. "What is it?" she asked.

"Sakura, how did you get this?" Syaoran asked, staring blankly at her arm. Sakura followed his line of vision and gasped, trying to pull her arm away from his grip. Syaoran wouldn't let go. On the inside of her right arm was a long, slightly faint scar which reached up half of her arm.

"It's nothing," she said, trying to free her wrist of Syaoran's grasp.

"It's obviously something," Syaoran said. "That wasn't there before I left. What happened? How did you get it?"

"Honestly, it's not that-" she began.

"Sakura," he interrupted her, "I want to know how you got hurt-"

"Syaoran, just leave it!!" she almost shouted. Syaoran let go of her wrist and thought he saw a flicker of fear cross her eyes. "It's nothing," she whispered, picking up the cup of tea, this time with her left hand which shook slightly. She began sipping from it and they sat in silence.

Syaoran watched her for a while and told her, "You've changed."

"People change, Syaoran," she responded, almost sadly. "You should know that."

He nodded and they drank the rest of their tea in silence.

"Oh no!" Sakura cried when she saw the time. "I have to be home in ten minutes!"

"You can go," Syaoran told her, picking up their empty cups and going in to the kitchen.

"Are you sure?" she asked, uncertainly. "Don't you need any more help?"

"It's fine," he said, giving her one of his smiles. "Go, before you're late."

"Right!" Sakura slipped on her shoes and shot out the front door. "Bye Syaoran!"

"Be careful on your way home!" Syaoran called out after her. He heard the door close. Syaoran went back to the sofa and collapsed on to it. The apartment did seem friendlier now that it was slightly more colorful. Sitting up, he glanced at the closed boxes scattered around the room. Sighing, he walked over to the first box and opened it. It was time he did this; he'd been putting off unpacking all week.

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On Sunday night, Sakura was sat at her desk finishing off her math homework for the next day. Kero was sat in front of the television screen playing video games as usual, shouting insults at the monitor every now and then. It was getting late and Sakura was growing tired. She hastily finished off the last equation, and was satisfied when the answer she got corresponded to the question.

"Finished!" she said. She closed the book and slid it in to her schoolbag on the floor. Getting up, she walked over to her bed and collapsed on top of it. She stretched for a moment and then resigned herself to relaxing. Her waist no longer hurt thanks to Syaoran, and the cuts were healing quickly. She was glad for this; cheerleading practice would be held on Thursday, and she wanted to be in top condition for the team. Sakura had just rolled over when she heard a knocking at her door.

"Come in!" she called. Kero immediately paused his game and took on his 'stuffed animal' position.

The door creaked open and Touya stuck his head in. "It's getting late; you should be asleep." He scolded.

"Sorry onii-chan, I was just going to bed now," Sakura told him.

Touya looked from the turned on television to the remote on the floor to Kero sitting still as a mouse on the desk. Instead of glaring at Kero suspiciously like he usually did, Touya rolled his eyes at him and left the room. Sakura listened to him go into his own room and shut the door.

Kero relaxed and started to save his game and turn the TV off.

"Kero-chan?" Sakura asked as she climbed under the bed sheets. "Why do you still pretend that you're a stuffed toy whenever onii-chan comes in?"

"Because it's easier that way," Kero told her. He flew over to turn the lights off and then rested himself underneath the sheets beside Sakura.

"It's been over 5 years now," she continued, staring up at the ceiling. "He suspected you right from the beginning."

"What would I say to him if I did talk to him?" Kero asked her. "Some things are better left the way they are, Sakura-chan."

"I suppose," she said, "and some things are better off changed," she added.

--------

"Ohayo, Daidouji-san."

Tomoyo turned around in her chair. "Ohayo, Li-kun. How was your weekend?"

"Hectic," Syaoran said as he sat down. "I never knew that decorating was so tedious. How was yours?"

"Oh, enjoyable," she replied. "I had fun with mother in Tokyo, and I spent all of Sunday making up new costumes for Sakura-chan!"

Syaoran sweatdropped. "I see." He looked at the empty desk in front of him and sighed. "I also see that Sakura will be late again."

"Of course," Tomoyo said. "She wouldn't be Sakura-chan if she was always early."

Syaoran smiled. "No, she wouldn't be." His smile quickly faded away. "Daidouji, do you know anything about the scar on Sakura's arm?"

Tomoyo's eyes turned very sad. "Yes," she said quietly, "but I don't think it's my place to tell."

Syaoran looked at Tomoyo. "I know she trust you," he began, "but-"

"If Sakura wishes for you to know," Tomoyo cut him off, "then she will tell you. I can't betray her trust."

Syaoran nodded. He understood that Tomoyo and Sakura were very close to each other, and he knew that it was unfair to even suggest for Tomoyo to break the trust that they shared.

He closed his eyes and proceeded to see if he could sense Sakura's aura coming closer to the school. He heard a soft humming to the right of him, and he new by instinct that Tomoyo had taken out her camera and started recording him. He managed to pick out a pink aura coming closer at great speed; there was no doubt that Sakura was now skating to school as fast as she could. He tried to reach out to her aura but a powerful, red aura over-rode it. Syaoran's eyes snapped open and his eyes shot to the door at the far end of the classroom…there was someone there…someone powerful.

The door in question opened and Matsuo-sensei walked in. "Ohayo, class!" he greeted.

"Ohayo, sensei!" the class called back.

"Right, we have a bit of a surprise today," he said, standing behind his desk at the front of the room. His eyes roamed over the class. "It's unusual for this to happen three times in 7 days but there will be…" Matsuo-sensei trailed off as he noticed Sakura's empty chair. "Kinomoto-san is late again, I presume?"

Some of the class giggled whilst some, like Syaoran, rolled their eyes. The door at the back of the room opened and Sakura walked in, panting.

"You're late, Kinomoto-san," the sensei called sternly, but amused all the same.

"Oh! I'm sorry, sensei!" Sakura said, bowing hastily.

"You seem to be making a habit of it," he said. "Well, hurry to your seat."

"Yes, sensei!" Sakura quickly walked to her seat and sat down, still panting for air. Behind her, Sakura could feel Syaoran's eyes on her. She turned her head slightly to the left. Syaoran's eyes had a meaningful, serious look about them and he raised his eyebrows slightly at her. Sakura nodded her head slightly, but it was enough for Syaoran to see. _So he felt it too,_ she said to herself as she turned to face the front of the class.

"As I was saying," the sensei continued, "we have another new student joining us today. I'd like you all to welcome Hernandez Rohan, who is a student from America. Hernandez-san, you may come in now!"

The door slid open and all eyes were fixed on the new arrival. He was a tall, thin and well built. His hair was jet black and reached to the bottom of his neck in length. His fringe swept over his sky blue eyes. He was the American girls' description of 'tall, dark and handsome.' Rohan stood at the front of the class and smiled at his fellow classmates. His eyes lingered on Sakura and Syaoran for a moment.

"Hernandez-san, would you like to take the seat by the window?"

Rohan nodded. "Yes, sensei," he said in his American accent. Several of the girls melted on the inside at the sound of his voice. He took the empty seat that was in front of Sakura.

Sakura and Syaoran had both lost track of the aura as soon as the classroom door had been opened and the sensei had walked in. It was almost like as if it had been turned out.

Sakura turned her head to stare out the window. Was that powerful person nearby?

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"Hernandez-kun is quite intriguing, ne, Sakura-chan?" Tomoyo asked at lunch time. She, Sakura, Syaoran and (to Syaoran's annoyance) Taisho were sitting on the grass after the tough morning.

"He's so different from us," Sakura said. "I've never even met someone from America!"

"He is quite unusual," Taisho said, gazing at the clouds. "But we should not judge; we have not properly been introduced."

"Well, there's no time like the present," an American accent came from behind them. They all turned to see Rohan standing above them, grinning cockily. "Whoa, I feel tall, you all look like ants." He sat down on the grass with them. "There much better," he said, grinning at them all. "I believe proper introductions are in order. Hernandez Rohan," he said, bowing his head at them. "Born and bred in Michigan, America. Came to Japan for, well, personal reasons."

"I'm Kinomoto Sakura," Sakura said bowing her head.

"Kusatsu Taisho," he said, smiling at the new comer.

"Li Syaoran," Syaoran said, not making eye contact.

Sakura elbowed him. "You'll have to forgive my friend," she said to Rohan, "he's very blunt with introductions." Syaoran scowled at her, but Rohan wasn't paying attention;

Rohan had caught eye of Tomoyo and put his hand on the grass, leaning ever so slightly towards her. "And who might you be, my violaceous-eyed friend?"

To Sakura's surprise, Tomoyo's cheeks turned a delicate shade of pink. "Daidouji Tomoyo," she said gently.

"A name full of worldly wisdom," he said, gently picking up Tomoyo's hand. "It suits you well, my dear." Rohan softly kissed the back of her hand.

Sakura giggled to herself at the display; Syaoran looked about ready to pummel the guy; Taisho just raised his eyebrows in Rohan's direction. Tomoyo's blush became slightly more prominent but she did not loose her composure.

"You have quite an unusual name," Tomoyo said when he released her hand. "What does it mean?"

"It's a name of Irish origin," he said, "and it means 'red'."

_Red…_Sakura thought…_that aura I felt earlier was red…_

"So, what's the workload like here?" Rohan asked just as the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch.

"It's not too much," Sakura said as the gathered up their bags. "Some of the teachers just give us work to make us suffer, though."

"Ah, the hardships of junior school," Rohan said, walking in between Sakura and Tomoyo. "It is much different in America…"

Behind them, Syaoran and Taisho walked side-by-side. Syaoran looked sideways at Taisho, and then looked away. Taisho did the same.

"You dislike him?" Taisho asked after much silence.

"Very," Syaoran said. "You?"

"Also," Taisho said, smiling slightly at Syaoran.

Syaoran gave a genuine, small smile back.

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At the end of school that day, Tomoyo and Sakura stood together in homeroom discussing what they should do once they get out of school.

"We should invite Syaoran, Kusatsu-kun and Hernandez-kun too!" Sakura said.

"That's a great idea, Sakura-chan," Tomoyo said.

"Well, I'm up for it," Rohan said from his desk.

"If it's not too much trouble," Taisho said from behind them.

"Not at all," Tomoyo told him.

Sakura looked expectantly at Syaoran. He sighed and got up form his chair. "Well, where should we go? The town?"

Tomoyo's eyes glanced nervously in Sakura's direction. It was so quick that Syaoran almost didn't notice the concerned look.

Sakura seemed to freeze for a millisecond but quickly replied, "That's a good idea."

The five of them set out from the school and walked in the direction of Tomoeda centre. Rohan and Tomoyo walked in front while Sakura, Syaoran and Taisho walked behind.

"Quite an unusual character," Taisho commented softly to Sakura.

"He is," Sakura reasoned, "but I suppose that's just a part of who he is."

"I for one can't ever remember seeing Daidouji blush," Syaoran stated.

Sakura shook her head. "She has never done it before; especially in front of a boy."

"All the more reason to be suspicious of him," Syaoran replied.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Syaoran, you're suspicious of _everyone._"

He scowled.

--------

"Kero-chan! I'm home!" Sakura called.

"Sakura-chan!" Kero floated down the stairs to see his mistress taking off her coat. "How was school?"

"It was okay," she said, taking off her shoes. "There was another new student joining our class."

"Hmm…" Kero thought. "That's the third time in one week. Was there anything suspicious about this new student?"

"Not really," Sakura said, walking up the stairs to her room. "He is nice, but there is something that's different about him."

"Like what?"

"Well, he said that his name means 'red'," Sakura told him, collapsing on to her bed, "and earlier in that morning, Syaoran and I felt a red aura about."

This seemed to catch Kero's interest. "Another magical person?"

"I don't know," she said, sighing. "The aura was gone by the time I walked in to the classroom."

"Just be careful, Sakura," Kero told her, floating over to turn the games console on. "You can never know who to trust."

Sakura thought about Kero's words for a while before she remembered that she had math and science homework to complete. She sat at her desk for the next hour solving problems and answering physics questions. By the time she was finished she already felt tired and was ready to take a nap.

Before Sakura could reach the bed she felt a strong presence hit her. It wasn't the strange aura; it was one of the mysterious forces that had attacked her last week! Kero had noticed it too; he had stopped the game he was playing and was looking out the window intently.

"Sakura…" he began.

"Yeah," she said. She picked up her phone and dialed Tomoyo's number. When she picked up, Sakura told her to meet her at the park. Tomoyo was ecstatic at the chance for Sakura to wear one of her new costumes. Sweatdropping, Sakura hung up and dialed Syaoran's number.

"Syaoran?" she asked when he picked up.

"I felt it too," he said. "Are you going over to the park?"

"Yes."

"I'll see you there." And he hung up.

"Kero-chan," Sakura said as she jumped out her window. The sun was setting and she checked to make sure no one was around before she released her staffed and said, "Fly!" The wings sprouted from her back and Kero floated beside her.

"Let's go!" he said as they flew up in to the orange sky.

--------

In his house, Tsukishiro Yukito was making dinner when he felt his other self calling out to be revealed. Sighing, Yukito said, "Let's hope this is quick; I'm quite hungry." He allowed himself to transform and Yue stood in the cluttered kitchen.

"Humans," he muttered, rolling his eyes ever so slightly. He was about to leave the house when he noticed that the cooker was still on. "They have the worst memory." Yue quickly switched off the cooker and then left.

--------

"Tomoyo-chan…is this really necessary?"

Sakura stood in the middle of the park wearing one of Tomoyo's most recent creations. It was a black halter neck dress with black leggings on underneath, some low-heel, knee-length boots and a pair of black fingerless gloves.

Syaoran personally thought that this was one of Tomoyo's less eccentric designs.

"I thought I would try a new style this time with Sakura-chan," she said, walking around Sakura with her camcorder on. "These clothes certainly do show off your figure more. Don't you think so, Li-kun?"

Syaoran immediately blushed and responded, "Well…I suppose…if that's what you…um…yeah…" He looked anywhere but at Sakura.

"But…Tomoyo-chan," Sakura said, looking down at herself, "I feel like a dressier version of Charlie's Angels!"

"I think that's what she was going for," Syaoran muttered. Sakura shot him a look.

In the background, Cerberus and Yue stood watching the exchange.

"Yue?" Cerberus addressed him. "If you were forced too, would you ever let Tomoyo-chan dress you up?"

Yue gave him the iciest of stares.

Cerberus huffed slightly and looked away. "I was only asking," he muttered grumpily.

Back with Sakura, Tomoyo suddenly noticed what Syaoran was wearing. "Li-kun, why aren't you wearing your traditional Chinese fighting gown?"

"Uh…I grew out of it and told the Elders not to make a new one," he said, suddenly becoming nervous. He dreaded what was going to be said next…

"But that means I can make battle costumes for Li-kun too!" Tomoyo went starry-eyed again, imagining all the different matching designs she could make for Sakura and Syaoran.

Syaoran just looked at Sakura. She started giggling. Suddenly, Sakura snapped around and looked in the direction of the forest beside the park. Cerberus and Yue also became more alert and had moved forwards to stand behind Sakura. Syaoran focused to where she was staring at, but couldn't see anything. Tomoyo had come back to reality and resumed recording.

"What is it?" Syaoran asked her. Sakura narrowed her eyes (another thing that Syaoran had never seen her do) and continued to stare in to the forest.

"I felt…that red aura again…" she murmured to him.

"Sakura! Look out!" Cerberus called.

Sakura spun around and dodged just in time to evade a fire ball that was sent her way. She stumbled in to Syaoran, who caught her and steadied her.

"I feel the presence of another of those forces!" she said as she held her staff out in front of her and went in to defense mode. Syaoran too held out his sword while Yue and Cerberus stood on either side of them. Tomoyo had retreated to the bushes to continue her recording.

"This presence is very strange," Cerberus said. "I have never felt anything like it."

"Nor have I," Yue said, searching the park with his eyes.

Suddenly another fireball came in their direction. Cerberus stood in front of them and blasted it with his own ball of fire. The offending one headed back in the direction it came from. They heard a pained yelp and distinctly saw a small, flaming creature moving about in the air above them. It turned around to face them and Sakura could clearly see that the creature was incredibly elf-like. It looked at them for a second before the flames around it grew larger and, out of it's own small hands, it sent several large blasts of fire their way.

"Move!" Syaoran yelled as he pushed Sakura out of the way. He landed on top of her and quickly got up. "You okay?"

"Yeah," she said, slightly flustered. She gasped. "Shield!" she called, drawing the card out and hitting it with her staff. The giant golden bubble enclosed them as several more fireballs crashed against it's surface. As soon as the attack stopped, Sakura recalled Shield and took out another card. "Windy!" Windy soared in to the air and surrounded the small elf. It appeared to struggle for a moment before the flames just grew even bigger and it blasted Windy out of it's way. Sakura ducked a single fire bolt that came her way and quickly called out Watery. The little elf tried to evade her but Watery eventually surrounded it and soaked the elf. When Watery returned, the elf was visibly drenched and it was no longer flaming

"You did it, Sakura!" Cerberus called to her.

But the little creature just flamed up again and looked even angrier than ever.

"You _almost_ did it, Sakura," Cerberus corrected before he and Yue flew up to distract the creature while Sakura thought of a plan.

"Tricky little bugger, this one," Syaoran said, standing beside her.

"Don't swear," she said while trying to frantically think up a plan.

"How can you scold me in a situation like this?" he asked, awe-struck, keeping an eye on the elfish creature.

"I just can," she retorted. "Come on, think, _think_," she said to herself.

"We need to get it to stop moving," Syaoran stated.

"'Stop moving'," she repeated. "Stop…that's it! Syaoran, you're a genius!" she cried.

"Eh?" he said, his concentration braking for a moment before he suddenly shouted, "Move!"

He and Sakura both ducked and rolled in different directions. Sakura drew out the last card which could help her. Throwing it in the air from where she lay, she called, "Freeze!"

The large ice creature soared towards the small elfish one and circled around it. The elf started struggling but only found itself freezing over. When Freeze was done, the elf was encased in a small block of ice floating in the air.

Sakura sighed with relief. She scrambled up from where she lay and walked over to where Syaoran was still sitting on the ground. She kneeled down beside him.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah," he replied, still staring at the block of ice in mid air. "Good thinking with the Freeze card."

"It was you who gave me the idea," Sakura said as she stood up with Syaoran. Tomoyo walked over to them, still recording, and stood beside them.

They heard a faint rustling from the bushes behind them. Sakura and Syaoran turned to look at Tomoyo who was beside them, checking that she was no longer in the bushes. All three of them spun around. A tall dark figure emerged from the bushes, along with the strong red aura that Sakura and Syaoran had sensed earlier that day. Syaoran immediately sent out the wind from his ofuda and it rapidly made for the figure.

The figure blocked the wind with a wave of its hand and exclaims, "Whoa! Careful, that's some strong wind in that sheet of paper!" The American accent carried clearly across the park.

"Hoe! Hernandez-kun?" Sakura asked, shocked. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to watch the show!" he said, striding over to where the three of them stood. "And, I must say, a show it was. It is an honor," Rohan continued getting down on one knee in front of Sakura and bowing, "to finally meet the Mistress of the Cards. I am at your mercy, Sakura-sama."

Sakura blushed out of embarrassment. "Hoe, please get up, Hernandez-kun! You're making me uncomfortable."

Yue and Cerberus flew down and stood defensively behind Sakura.

"Who are you?!" Cerberus demanded.

"I am Hernandez Rohan," he said. "I transferred her from America and I am an acquaintance of the creator of the Myst Forces."

"What's a Myst Force?" they all asked (except Yue) simultaneously.

Rohan pointed to the frozen elf in the air. "That," he said, "is a Myst Force."

"Does that mean there is a whole new load of forces to be stopped?" Syaoran asked.

"Yes and no," Rohan replied. "They're an odd lot of forces at that, too. Their creator had a weird sense of humor." He noticed for the fist time that Sakura's outfit. "Sakura-san…what are you wearing?"

"Oh, it's one of Tomoyo's designs," she responded, blushing yet again.

"Ah," Rohan said, turning to the camera-clad Tomoyo. "I see…you must design the battle outfits for Sakura-san to wear. A very creative job; I'm impressed. And I like the color." He sure did like the color; Rohan himself was wearing black trousers, black t-shirt and a black jacket on top of it.

"How do you know so much about these forces?" Syaoran asked, feeling there were more pressing matters right now other than clothing.

"I'll explain everything soon but first…" he said, trailing off and glancing up at the sky, "…uh, are you gonna seal that?" he asked, nodding towards the now melting block of ice.

"Oh! I almost forgot!" Sakura said as she turned towards the reawakening elf. "By the Power of the Stars, I, Sakura, command you to resign to a new form of contract; Myst Force!"

Knowing the origin of the card certainly made it less draining to seal it. The small elf creature broke out of the ice and obediently began to disintegrate and form in to a card in the air. When it was sealed it floated down to in front of Syaoran, who took it uncertainly.

"But…" Sakura started, staring in disbelief at the new card, "the force from the other day didn't change in to a card…"

"'The Fireball'," he read out. "What am I going to do with this card?"

"You could right a song about it," Rohan said cheerfully. Syaoran scowled at him.

"Does this mean that Sakura-chan and Li-kun will have to compete for cards again?" Tomoyo asked from the other side of her camcorder.

"Ah, well, there isn't much worth competing for," Rohan admitted. "Like I said; the creator had a weird sense of humor."

"But it's a card!" Sakura said. "This force changed in to a card…"

"We still don't know who you really are," Yue stated, speaking for the first time since Rohan's arrival.

"I'll explain to you," Rohan began, "but not here. There's too much risk of being overheard. Come on, we'll go to my apartment."

They hesitantly followed Rohan out of the park, Syaoran silently hoping that Hernandez's apartment was far, far away from his own.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

**This chapter was also re-edited. Nya!**

Who is this mysterious Rohan lad? What are his intentions in Tomoeda? Why am I asking you; you don't know! Well, the end of my second chapter, albeit 8 pages shorter than the first one. There was this little conversation between Sakura and Syaoran that I had to cut out…it just didn't fit the moment. I'll include it in possibly the 6th chapter haha.

Oh, and the name 'Rohan' does actually mean 'red'. I didn't find this out until after I had chosen his name and started writing this chapter. When I saw what that name meant, I thought, "Ooo…that was a good choice of name!" I had written a scene in the second last chapter (yes, I have thought that far ahead) and it was the first time that I clarified to myself that Rohan's aura would be red. Actually, he wasn't even named 'Rohan' then. I was on holiday when I started writing this and had no access to a computer, so I just made up the names of my own characters until I could get to a computer and find some real names. Still, I'm freaked out that I choose red and 'Rohan' without knowing that they were connected. And 'Tomoyo' means 'worldly wisdom', which was what Rohan was talking about earlier on.

I've started reading the 'Fruits Basket' manga and have fallen in love with it; and I've only read the first volume! I can't wait to get the second one. I'm trying to get a hold of some Card Captor Sakura manga too! laughs manically

elmo-doodle xxx

10th August 2007

P.S. please appreciate this chapter…I drank 4 cups of tea to help me write it (I would have drank 4 cups of coffee, but I don't know how to make coffee properly!)


	3. Chapter 3: The Master

And behold; the elmo-doodle produces another chapter!!!!! yay

Now, for the **Disclaimer**: I do not own CCS. Help us all if I did.

**This is really the only chapter that needs to be read to find out the changes I've made in the story!!**

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Rohan's apartment was located a few streets away from Syaoran's (much to his delight). It was a spacious, first floor accommodation and was decorated with pieces of furniture here and there. Rohan lead Sakura, Syaoran, Tomoyo, Kero and Yue over to the 'seating area' where he asked them all to have a seat. Kero instead floated in the air and Yue stood in the corner (as usual). Rohan stood before them.

"So…" he began, clapping his hands together. "I believe you want some questions answered?"

"Why did that force tonight change in to a card?" Syaoran asked. "The one a few nights ago evaporated when Sakura tried to seal it."

"Ah…" Rohan said. "Not exactly the question I was expecting to be asked first," he admitted. He brought his hand to his chin in thought. "How do I explain this?" he questioned himself. "Aha! Got it!" He clicked his fingers and four objects appeared out of nowhere; a blank card, two little replica dolls of Sakura and Syaoran and what looked light a fluffy black cloud."

"That's amazing!" Sakura exclaimed.

"The dolls are so cute!" Tomoyo said, going starry eyed over the little Sakura and Syaoran figurines.

"Right, pay attention," Rohan said, as if about to teach a class. "Pretend," he said, picking up the blank card from the air, "that this card represents a magical force, similar to the Clow Cards or the Sakura Cards. In a way, it is similar, until it is released. Now," he continued, picking up the fluffy black object, "this is the composition of the card. This black stuff is what you get when you break a force down to its simplest form, and believe me, that is a tricky thing to do. Do you follow?"

Everyone nodded their heads, bar Yue, who stood in the corner looking indifferent.

"Good. Now, there were two different types of forces that Master created-"

"Who is this 'Master' guy?" Syaoran cut across Rohan. "You've mentioned him a few times, but you haven't explained who he is properly."

Rohan gave Syaoran a smile. "All in good time," he told him. "So there were two types of forces created by Master; mischievous ones, and ones that were dangerous. What did the force look like a few nights ago?" Rohan asked Sakura. "Did it show its true form?"

"It was a tiger," Sakura said. "With plain yellow eyes."

Rohan's eyes seem to light up with a touch of reminiscence. "Ah!" he exclaimed happily. "That adorable little thing? It mustn't have been that hard to seal."

Syaoran looked at Rohan as if he were crazy. "Hernandez, that 'adorable little thing' was a full grown tiger, and it hurt Sakura."

"Sakura-chan! You were hurt?" Tomoyo asked, worried.

"I-I'm fine," she reassured her cousin. "Syaoran helped me."

Rohan looked very confused. "The Black Tiger was the size of an adult tiger?"

"Yes," Syaoran said.

"What did it originally look like?" Sakura asked him.

Rohan looked a little sad. "The Black Tiger was originally created in the form of a little tiger cub…Master used to keep it with him at all times…The tiger had as much violence in it as a house cat…"

"I'm sorry," Sakura said, sincerely. "What do you think happened?"

"The one who had control of the cards now is forcing them to be evil," Rohan said, running a hand through his hair. "They know how much Master was fond of that tiger…that must be why it turned in to the mist…"

"Why did it disappear?" Syaoran asked.

"First of all," Rohan began to explain, breaking out of his sad mode, "the more dangerous cards were created in such a way that, should they ever fall in to the wrong hands and be used for cruelty, they would only be able to be released once. After that, part of the card's magical make-up would prevent it from returning to a card again. Secondly, the force didn't disappear." This time Sakura and Syaoran both looked slightly lost. "When you tried to seal it, did the mist surround you?" Rohan asked.

Sakura and Syaoran nodded.

"That's because the force entered your bodies."

Now, Sakura and Syaoran looked bewildered.

"Do you mean to say that a dangerous force has been trapped inside our bodies?" Syaoran asked, hotly.

"Yes, _but_," Rohan said quickly; Syaoran looked ready to hit him, "the force entered in to someone who uses magic for the good of others; not for their own selfish deeds. The force that entered the two of you will no way affect your personality. You won't turn in to a dark magician or try to achieve world domination…but you now posses the power to call upon the force of the Black Tiger, and use it."

"So can you remember how many dangerous forces there are?" Tomoyo asked him.

"Uh…no," Rohan said, sweatdropping. "Master couldn't even remember it himself…"

"Who is 'Master'?" Kero asked. "You've mentioned him a few times, but we need to know who he is."

"You're right," Rohan said, nodding. He stood in the centre of the room again. "Master was my tutor, my sire, in magic. I was born with powers that I couldn't control so he took me in and trained me. In the years that I was with him, he also became my friend, my brother. 'Master' wasn't a formal way of addressing him; it was just a nickname that he had given himself. There wasn't anything imperative about it."

"So, you knew him when he made the forces??" Sakura asked, interested in the story of Rohan's life.

"Oh, yes," he replied, smiling at the memory. "I was with him when he created the very first card."

"So you know all their names?" Kero asked.

"Ah…no," Rohan said, hanging his head. "I would only see the forces twice, maybe three times if I were lucky. When Master created a force, he would call me to come and see. The new force would be out in the garden usually, showing off its abilities. I was always amazed at each new creation he made."

"How many forces were created?" Syaoran asked him.

"21…I think," Rohan said. "Master honestly didn't know what he was doing when he made them so powerful…"

"Then why did he do it?" Syaoran demanded.

"…did I mention that Master had a twisted sense of humor?" Rohan asked back.

"When did he start making them?" Sakura was curious about his 'Master' and each of the cards he made. If they had some background information, it would really help in sealing them.

"He made the first card about 8 years ago," Rohan said. "I was young then, so I cannot remember what it was. It took him two years to create all 21 cards. Before that, he taught me the concept of being a magician; the right and wrongs, that sort of thing. I loved being taught how I could use my magic to my advantage, so between the ages of 5 to 15, he trained me and guided me."

"That's all very interesting," Syaoran said, studying Rohan with an intense gaze…why did he get the feeling that Rohan was telling them everything?... "but can you explain to us how and why the cards are attacking us now?"

Rohan looked down at the floor sadly. "The last card he created…" he began in a much quieter voice, "was powerful…_so _powerful. Master didn't intend for it to become that way, but he gave the new card so much strength that it began magically stronger than him. Not by much, but it was enough."

The room was silent when Rohan paused.

"I was ten years old when it happened," he continued. "The new card was intelligent, witty, and possessed the ability to talk There was so much that Master couldn't decipher about his newest creation, so he named it 'The Mysterious Brother'. Master thought that he could train the Brother to not use his powers extravagantly. It was remarkable one evening when I walked in to the lounge and saw Master and Brother having a leisurely talk, and laughing together…that must have been the last time I saw the good side of the Brother."

"What happened?" Sakura asked quietly.

"They were standing in the garden one afternoon talking. I was in my bedroom and I began to hear raised voices from below. I walked downstairs and stood behind the open garden doors, listening. I caught words they were saying, like 'power', 'foolish' and 'disastrous'. They began shouting at each other and I realized what they were arguing about; the world. The Mysterious Brother was calling Master an idiot for sitting back when he had the power to make the world his own. Master would never even dream of such a thing and he told the Brother that because one possesses power does not mean he can abuse it. The Brother got mad and lashed out with his magic. I washed in awe as the strongest magician at that time and the most powerful force battled. It was a vicious thing to watch…I remember the horror I felt when I saw Master starting to bleed."

Rohan turned his back on them and clenched his fists. "You have no idea," he said softly, "what it's like to sit on the side-lines and watch someone you know get hurt, and you can't do a thing about it."

Syaoran felt a strange pang of sympathy for Rohan. He himself knew what it was like to feel useless when the person you care about was being struck. Syaoran had to stop himself from shooting a glare at Yue.

"Master put up a good fight," Rohan continued, still facing away from them, "but it wasn't enough. Because of the accident during the Mysterious Brother's creation, he had the upper hand. Just one more ounce of power and Master was helpless. I thought that the Brother would kill him when Master lay on his back, struggling for air. The Brother raised his hand and said, "You sicken me. So much power and you put no use to it. I will not let my powers rot away. I'm taking my brothers and sisters and they will help me in my defeat of this world." All 20 of the cards went straight to the Brother's outstretched hand. He was just about to disappear when he turned back to Master and said, "Friend, next time I meet you, it will be your end." And then, he vanished."

The room remained deadly quiet, a silence that no one wanted to break.

"So," Tomoyo began, hesitantly, and Rohan turned round to face them again, "the Mysterious Brother…is causing the trouble here?"

"Yes," Rohan said, running a hand over his face. "What his intentions are here, I have no idea, but I'm sure that it has something to do with the Card Mistress." He looked at Sakura.

"Why were you sent here?" Syaoran asked, frowning. "Why not Master?"

"In the 6 years since the Mysterious Brother fled, Master has been training me to become stronger," Rohan said, looking slightly proud. "There was this one point about four years ago when Master stood in the back garden looking up at the sky and talking about 'Clow Cards' and 'Mistress'. I honestly thought he was loosing it then," he chuckled, "but then before he transferred me here, he told me all about the Clow Cards and their new Mistress. I was quite excited at the prospect of meeting someone else with magical powers, other than Master.

I asked him myself why he was sending me, and not going himself. He told me that I would fit in better and would be of more help. I just accepted what he said and left."

"And so know the Mysterious Brother is controlling all the other cards?" Sakura asked, trying to keep up. "And there are 20 of them? Hoe! I have to seal them all?"

"Yup!" said Rohan cheerfully. "I'm here to help now, so please make good use of me."

"Hernandez-kun," Sakura began, "I want to get to know you as a friend; not as someone who I just call when I need help. I hope we can have a close friendship some time!"

"'Friendship'…" Rohan muttered, looking dazed but he quickly broke out of it, and smiled cockily at Sakura. "Well, you can all start by calling me 'Rohan'; I'm not that fond of being addressed by my surname."

"Sure!" Sakura and Tomoyo said. Syaoran vowed to call him 'Hernandez' for the rest of his life.

"We better go," Sakura said standing up. Tomoyo and Syaoran followed suit. "We've got school tomorrow, so we should see you there!"

"Of course," Rohan walked them all towards the door and opened it for them. "See you tomorrow!" he called out after them.

"See you tomorrow!" Sakura and Tomoyo called back.

--------

"Rohan-kun sure has an unusual childhood," Sakura said as the four of them (Yue flew back to Yukito's house as soon as they left Rohan's) walked on the pavement.

"He does," Tomoyo agreed, "but that makes him all the more interesting!"

"I feel as though there's something he's not telling us," Syaoran said.

"Like what?" Sakura questioned.

"I don't know," he replied, "but there's the tiniest thing off about his story…"

"Syaoran-kun, you think there's something wrong with every new person you meet," Sakura told him.

"I don't!" he protested. "It's just, there's something about him that's, well, weird."

"Well, you're the only one who thinks like that, kid," Kero said.

--------

Rohan collapsed onto his bed once everyone had left. He hated bringing up old memories; it always felt like he was reliving them. The conversation had somehow drained him. Although he was glad to get it over and done with…now he just had to live with the story he had told them…

"I'm a terrible person," he told himself, staring up at the ceiling.

But Sakura…she had mentioned something which he didn't believe in. _"I hope we can have a close friendship sometime!" _her voice rang in his head.

…Friendship. Was there such a thing? Could he ever again let his barriers down and trust in someone? He used to think that there was nothing better in the world than having a friend…

_A sixteen year old Rohan sat in an arm chair in front of the fire in Massachusetts, America. He was dressed all in black with the addition of a black cloak hung around his shoulders. In his hand he held a glass of what may have been wine to the naked eye. Rohan seemed much focused on this glass as he did not take his eyes off it. _

"_How are you feeling?" he asked suddenly, seemingly to no one. His voice was deep and lacked the boy-ish tone that I should have at his age._

"_Tired," replied a male voice from the shadows cast by the flaming embers, "which is ironic, as you should be the one needing rest."_

_Rohan chuckled slightly and took a sip out of his glass. "The way my body works is almost as mysterious as your very existence."_

"_You make it sound like a bad thing," said the voice and the speaker emerged from the shadows. He was a tall person, with dirty blonde hair and mysteriously dark black eyes. He was dressed in the way of a monk, except that his robes were completely black._

"_I enjoy a mystery," Rohan said thoughtfully. "It makes the world seem brighter, for no one knows everything about this earth. A little mystery in the world is needed."_

_The robed person nodded. He walked to sit in the chair in front of Rohan, and then he studied the contents of Rohan's glass. "What is it you are drinking?" he asked. "I know it is not wine."_

"_And how you know that is a complete surprise to me," Rohan said, smiling. "It is a special blend of herbs and spices; I usually drink it when I am relaxed." Rohan waved his hand and a small table appeared beside him. He set his glass down on this table and then faced the robed person._

"_There are few times when I feel fully relaxed," Rohan told him. "When one is as lonely as I am, it is hard to find a moment in which you can be at peace with the world."_

"_If you are so lonely," the robed man asked, "why do you not go out and create friendships with others?"_

_Rohan stiffened slightly. "I never had a friend, even when I was younger. The other children would point at me and call me names and never approach me. My life was as lonely as it is now."_

"_You now speak as if a do not exist," said the other man with a small smile. "I may not have been in this world long, but I do know of friendship-"_

"_That is because I gave you my intelligence, Brother," Rohan said, smirking._

_The man straightened up slightly. "I dislike that name," he said._

"_You will adjust to it," Rohan told him. "Everyone had disliked their name at one point."_

_The Brother gave a look that pointed out quite clearly that he was not going to attempt to accept his name. "I do not even know your true name," the Brother said._

"_And we shall keep it that way," Rohan told him. "Some things are better left unsaid."_

_They sat in silence, staring in to the fire. _

"_What do you know of friendship?" Rohan questioned him._

"_I know that it is not good for one to be so lonely," the Brother replied. "Every person needs some one whom they can open up to." He looked at Rohan. "A lost soul needs to be found in life."_

_Rohan ran his hand over his face. "I never would have believed that one of my creations would council me on life," he said._

"_Yet, you must have created me for a reason," the Brother told him. "The ability of speech is uncommon amongst my brothers and sisters. We, together, are unusual."_

_Rohan smiled. "Yes, we are." He picked up his glass and drained the contents. Slowly, he got up and headed towards the door. "I shall retire for his evening," he said, keeping his back to the fire. "If you wish to remain active, please, I should like to find the house still standing when I awake."_

_The Brother huffed ever so slightly. "I am not that careless."_

"_I know," Rohan said opening the door. _

"_Good night, Master."_

"_Good night, Brother," Rohan said and, smiling slightly, he added, "my friend."_

Rohan turned on to his side and started to gaze at the wall.

"Can I learn to trust?" he asked himself. "Is there such a thing as 'friendship'?"

Rohan sighed and, with a wave of his hand, the lights turned off.

Outside his window and hidden in the shadows, a familiar person watched him.

"Trust is only the beginning of friendship," came a strange accent. "Perhaps," the figure added with a sly smile, "that is where we went wrong." The person stepped out of the shadows and in to the moonlight. Kusatsu Taisho stood in the small garden, watching Rohan through the darkened window. "You must learn to trust those around you, and yet you must also learn who is not to trust. That was where you went wrong with me. Sleep well." With a swish of his long, black robes, Taisho disappeared in to the night.

------------------------------------------------

Badda-bing, badda-boom.

Okay, so it took me longer than I anticipated to redo this chapter...sorry for the wait! I'm working on chapter 5, I swear!!

OH!! And a big, BIG thank-you to all the people who have reviewed this story so far! I appreciate it much!

rushes off to continue writing chapter five!!


	4. Chapter 4: Trickster Trouble

heh. i went to the music department in my school last week during my private study periods to do my pentatonic composition (for those you don't know what that is, wikipedia magic! i'm so nerdy, i researched about pentatonic-ness before i did the work ). so recently when we were in class, i let my two best friends hear it. about 4 seconds in, Ciara said, "It sounds like, "Maru-chan goes to bed" or something." Ha, i was in stitches.

Oh!! None of you will probably know this, but Maru-chan is my conscience!!!!!!

i swear i'm not crazy! huh? oh yeah! the **Disclaimer: **I do not own CCS. But i do own the penatatonic composition that i wrote [feels proud

* * *

It was mid-May when Tomoyo sat at the writing desk in her room. The trees surrounding her house had taken on a luscious green colour and were gently swaying in the evening breeze. 

Her hand glided graciously as the pen which she held skimmed across the milky white paper. Her curly writing covered the sheet as she wrote her thoughts, her ideas and the events of the past few weeks. Delicately placing her signature at the bottom of the page, Tomoyo picked up and envelope and carefully placed the now-folded letter inside of it. She had just sealed the envelope and had started writing the address on it when her mobile's ring tone played out in her quiet room.

"Daidouji Tomoyo," she said in to the speaker. "Sakura-chan! How are you? Really? Of course I will; but you must put on one of my costumes of course. Yes, that's fine. I'll see you soon." Placing her phone back on to the desk, Tomoyo finished off the letter and then rushed off to her closet to find something suitable to wear, leaving the letter addressed to Eriol on her table.

[……….

Syaoran stood in front of the fountain at Tomoeda centre at night. He leaned against the ceramic and impatiently checked his watch. Sighing, he picked up his sword and started to walk around the area, looking for anything suspicious. Ten minutes later he heard girl's voices coming closer.

"Tomoyo-chan, are you sure this isn't too…inappropriate for the occasion?"

"This dress is flexible and not too heavy, so it won't be a problem for moving around in! Besides, Sakura-chan fills it well!"

"That's what's inappropriate about it," she muttered. "Syaoran-kun! Have you been here long?"

"Only for an hour," he replied. "But I'm sure you two had more important things to do."

"Hoe- Tomoyo-chan insisted that I wear another of her designs," Sakura said, sweatdropping. She was wearing a light purple dress that clung to her figure and had an almost too low V-neck, and came down to the top of her knees, where it fanned out. She wore matching purple shoes and the laces came up around her legs. Kero floated behind Sakura with a purple ribbon tied around his neck.

"Oh no!" Tomoyo cried in dismay. "I forgot about Li-kun's costume!"

"Th-that's quite alright," Syaoran said, laughing nervously.

Sakura looked at their surroundings. "Have you seen anything, Syaoran?"

"No," he said as Tomoyo started to back away and start recording the scene. He could have sworn that Sakura sounded nervous while looking around "The presence hasn't shown itself yet but I can feel it nearby. It's almost as if it's watching us."

"Hmm," Sakura said, walking over to the fountain with the others following her. "I can feel it too; but why is it hiding?"

Tomoyo continued to back away, making sure to catch every moment of Sakura in action.

"I still don't understand these cards," Kero said, crossing his arms and legs in mid-air. "And that Rohan boy doesn't make much sense. How can we be sure to trust him?"

"We can't," Syaoran stated. "Until we get to know him better, I don't think we should trust him at all."

Sakura looked slightly angry as she turned to face Syaoran. "Syaoran-kun; do you honestly think that Rohan-kun is the cause of this?"

Syaoran blinked. How did she know that was what he thought? The look in her eyes told him that she wanted an answer. Sighing, he said, "No, I don't" Sakura looked like she didn't believe him. "I just can't help thinking he has something to do with this!"

"In case you haven't notice, Syaoran-kun," Sakura said, slipping in to her sarcastic tone, "the aura behind these attacks and Rohan-kun's aura are completely different!"

Syaoran huffed ever so slightly. Yes, he had noticed, but it didn't mean that he had to accept it.

"Besides," she continued, her back turned to the fountain, "you thought that Mizuki-sensei was not to be trusted, but as it turns out she helped me."

Syaoran was scowling now. "And you thought that Hiiragizawa was a good person!"

Sakura gaped at him. "Eriol-kun _was_ good! You just disliked him because he was such a gentleman!" Sakura allowed a dreamy look to come over her eyes, just to aggravate Syaoran.

And it worked. "Oh, so that's what this is all about? Me not acting like a gentleman?"

"Well, it wouldn't kill you to…"

Kero rolled his eyes at their bickering. He caught sight of Tomoyo in the bushes and waved his little paw her. Tomoyo giggled and waved back from where she sat, camera in hand. Oh, it was just wonderful to capture a lover's quarrel on tape! Tomoyo's eye caught sight of something rising up behind Sakura, Syaoran and Kero, who had not noticed. She giggled once more.

"And to top it all off-" Sakura said before Syaoran cut across her.

"Wait!" he shouted. He frowned in confusion. "Does it seem to have gotten darker?"

Sakura looked around her. "Yes…"

Sakura, Syaoran and Kero all looked to the moving shadow before them on the ground and, together they turned around just in time to see a wall of water rising up behind them. Before any of them could react, the water came crashing down on them.

The three of them stood there in shock for a moment, dripping wet.

"What the hell just happened?" Syaoran asked.

Sakura couldn't resist rolling her eyes. "Well," she began, "we were arguing and then you noticed it was getting dark and then-"

"Okay, okay! I get the point," Syaoran said, annoyed. "But how come we didn't sense the force behind us?"

"Because you two were so busy shouting at each other!" Kero said, shaking the water from his fur.

Syaoran was about to retort when a loud crashing sound met his ears. He and Sakura stood back to back as the shop windows on each side of the street shattered. They waited in silence for the next move. Nothing seemed to be happening until Sakura exclaimed;

"Hoe! That shop dummy just _moved_!"

Syaoran turned his head around and to his utter amazement the manikins on Sakura's side were indeed moving. He looked back to in front of him and saw the exact same thing happening.

"What the hell…" he began before he saw them move towards them. "Quick!" he shouted, stepping up onto the edge of the fountain and pulling Sakura up with him.

"What should we do?!" Sakura cried; moving shop-window dummies were almost as bad as ghosts!

Syaoran drew out an ofuda and shouted, "Raitei shourai!"

The manikins were encased by powerful bolts of lightning and almost immediately fell to the ground.

"That was strange," Syaoran said, staring at the now-scorched shop-window dummies lying on the ground.

"This is a very unusual force," Kero added, looking around. "Maybe it's one that can manipulate objects or even-" He was cut off when he heard a splash suddenly found himself dripping wet again.

Kero blinked. "What happened that time?"

A round object came flying through the air at Syaoran, who ducked just in time. It landed with a splash on the ground behind him. Bending down to investigate it more closely, Syaoran turned around amazed, and said, "It's a water bomb."

"Hoe?!" Sakura exclaimed as she looked at the sky, and saw another water bomb coming towards them. She had just jumped out of the way when another followed it, and it landed on her head. "What's doing this?!" she cried.

Hundreds of water bombs started to fall from the sky, pelting them from all directions.

"Shield!" Sakura called out. The shield surrounded Sakura, Syaoran and Kero, all of whom were drenched again. "What is this?!" she repeated.

"I don't know!" Syaoran yelled above the sound of water hitting against the shield.

"You need to find where the source of the power is coming from," Kero said, a little too calmly for Syaoran's liking. "Concentrate, Sakura."

Sakura nodded, and, closing her eyes, she blocked out all the noises around her. She focused her powers on searching out the position of the unknown force. She could feel the presence for Syaoran and Kero distinctly beside her, and she reached out further. The slightest hint of another presence would be all she needed…there!

"Firey!" Sakura called out, focusing on the point where she had felt the presence. Firey obediently went in that direction, skillfully dodging all the water bombs. It disappeared behind the bushes for a moment, and the gang heard some one, or something, grunt in pain.

Then the presence disappeared.

Sakura called off the Shield and Firey also returned to her. The water bombs had stopped falling from the sky, and it was peaceful again, albeit wet with burnt manikins on the ground.

"Tomoyo-chan!" Sakura suddenly called out. "Are you okay?"

"Hai, Sakura-chan, I'm fine," she replied, coming out from her hiding place in the bushes. "Oh dear," she continued, looking around herself. "It is a bit of a mess, isn't it?"

Sakura and Syaoran looked at their surroundings and sweatdropped. "Hoe…we'll need to clean all this up!" Sakura exclaimed.

Syaoran looked around in disbelief. "How are we going to do that?" he asked. "The shop windows are broken and the manikins are scorched."

Sakura thought hard for a moment. "I've got it!" she said brightly, drawing out four Sakura Cards. Throwing the first one in to the air, she called out, "Bubble!" The card obediently began cleaning all the scorch marks of the manikins at top speed. By the time it was done you wouldn't have known that the dummies had been victims of Syaoran's power.

Sakura threw up a second card. "Move!" The manikins began to drift back to their rightful place in the shops and stood there like they hadn't even moved.

Syaoran watched in amazement at Sakura's quick thinking. She had definitely improved. "That's all very good," he said, "but what about they windows?"

Sakura smiled knowingly, and, throwing the last card in to the air, she called out, "Sand! Firey!"

_The Sand and the Firey…_Syaoran said to himself. He would never have thought of that.

The two cards worked together to create new glass windows in the surrounding shops. Kero's mouth was open in awe at his Mistress' open mind and resourcefulness. By the time all the cards had finished their work, you would never have known that something magical had taken place that night.

Sakura turned around to face Syaoran, twirling her staff in her hands and smiling placidly.

Syaoran sighed. "All right, I'll say it: that was good."

"Thank-you," Sakura said, satisfied. "I'd better be going home before onii-chan notices that I'm gone again."

"Do you want me to walk you back?" Syaoran offered awkwardly (try saying that 5 times).

"It's okay, I have Kero-chan," Sakura said.

"Yeah, that's right, she has me!" Kero said, puffing himself up.

"I'll see you all tomorrow," Sakura said before turning away.

"Wait!" Syaoran said as his eye caught something in the distance. Drawing out and ofuda he said, "Raitei shourai!" A bolt of lightning traveled through the air and hit a security camera several meters away.

The gang stood in silence for a moment.

"That was vandalism, Syaoran-kun," Sakura said.

Somewhere on the other side of Tomoeda, a policeman tapped at the blank TV screens in confusion. "Yo, Haru-san! Someone's short-circuited a camera again!"

[……….

"Kaijou! Where were you last night?"

Sakura cringed at her brother's question the next morning. "Oh, I…um…sat outside to gaze at the stars…" Possibly convincing?

"You weren't at the house," Touya stated, scowling. It was his turn to make the breakfast that morning. _Only he could wear an apron and still look scary,_ Sakura thought.

"I was at Tomoyo-chan's house…?"

Touya's scowl softened slightly and was replaced with a look of concern. "You know I don't like it when you go out at night."

"Onii-chan," Sakura said, almost warningly, "it's been almost two years…"

"That's not an excuse!"

"I can take care of myself!"

"It doesn't change the fact that you're still scared!" Touya said.

Sakura looked at her brother with hurt before grabbing her bag and running out in to the hallway.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?" he asked, following her to the front door.

"I've got classroom duties,' Sakura mumbled, keeping her head down as she slipped in to her rollerblades.

"You haven't had your breakfast yet."

"I'm not hungry," she said, opening the front door.

"Sakura!" Touya shouted, but she walked out the door anyway. He stood in the hallway for a while and then sighed. Did he have to be so insensitive?

[……….

Sakura closed the door on her brother as he called her name. She quickly skated along the footpath and away from the house. _That was unfair of him, _she thought, her eyes becoming blurry. _That was a cheap, nasty trick to use on me. He doesn't understand._

Knowing that she was going to be way too early for school, Sakura took the scenic root. She skated in between rows of blossoming Sakura-trees, their delicate-pink petals drifting in the wind. Sakura wiped at her eyes before any tears could fall. Coming to a junction in the road, Sakura took a left which would take her further away from the school, and into a more secluded area. She continued rolling along the footway for a few minutes and the trees began to get denser, and the path more narrow. She slowed down when she eventually found herself in a circular clearing of grass with cherry blossoms surrounding it. Taking her roller blades off, she set them, along with her bag, at the bottom of a tree and proceeded to sit further out in the clearing.

Taking a deep breath, Sakura relaxed as she lay back in the glade and gazed up at the clouds. She had discovered this area of Tomoeda when she was 7 years old…

"_Onii-chan is so _mean_!" a much younger Sakura shouted as she ran out of the house._

"_Sakura! Come back here!" a 14 year old Touya yelled._

"_No!" she protested opening the door and shouting back. "I hate onii-chan! I hate him!" She slammed the door on her brother's shouting and ran off down the street. She went as fast as her little legs would carry her, so that her big meanie brother wouldn't know which direction she went._

_Sakura ran as far away from her house as possible. When she came to a junction in the road, she followed the path which led in to a whole forest of cherry blossoms which she had never seen before. She kept on running, ignoring how exhausted she felt and how her legs were crying out for rest. Eventually she came in to an open area where the sunlight flooded a small patch of grass and the trees were growing in a circle. There, Sakura finally collapsed on to the ground, in the middle of the clearing. She breathed heavily for a few seconds before starting to cry._

"_Onii-chan is so cruel," she whined, as the tears flowed down her face. "Just because otou-san isn't home doesn't mean he can tell me what to do!" Sakura cried even harder as she lay down on the grass. She was there for so long that she cried herself to sleep in the sunlight._

_Sakura awoke a few hours later when she heard footsteps outside of the clearing. Sitting up, she rubbed her eyes and gazed around her. The footsteps were coming closer, and Sakura could tell that someone was standing behind her. Assuming that it was her brother, Sakura stood up defiantly and was about to turn around and continue yelling at him, when the person spoke._

"_Sakura-chan__?"_

_Sakura slowly turned around and found herself looking up into the face of a 14-year-old Yukito._

"_Yukito-san," she said, as he kneeled down to her height._

"_Sakura-chan, what are you doing all the way out here?" Yukito asked her, gently._

_Sakura hung her head._

"_Touya's very worried about you. Did you have another fight with him?"_

_She nodded._

"_You've been gone for quite some time," Yukito continued, standing up. He held out his hand to her. "Should we go home?"_

_Sakura nodded again and put her small hand in to Yukito's. He led her out of the clearing and back on to the path. They walked along in silence for several minutes._

"_You know," Yukito said softly, "running away doesn't solve your problems. And it doesn't help others either. Touya was very upset when he rang me. He was worried when you didn't come home after an hour. I was worried, too."_

"_I'm sorry for making Yukito-san worry," Sakura mumbled. "I promise I won't run away again."_

_Yukito smiled at her. "I know you won't. When you get older you will have problems that you'll want to run away from, and sometimes you will without literally running away. And when those times come, you need to be strong, Sakura-chan."_

"_I promise to Yukito-san that I'll face my problems without running away!" Sakura said, looking up at Yukito with determined eyes. "I will be strong, and if I am, everything will definitely be all right!"_

"_Sakura! Where have you been?!" _

_Sakura stood inside the front door of her house after Yukito brought her back home. She hung her head in shame and didn't bother to shout back at her brother. After all, this time, she did deserve it._

"_Do you have any idea what could have happened to you?" Touya continued, more worried than angry. "You just ran off on your own!"_

_A single tear plopped down on the floor above Sakura's feet. "I'm sorry, Touya-nii-chan, I didn't mean-"_

_Sakura stopped speaking when Touya dropped down to his knees in front of her and pulled her into a hug. "I know you didn't mean it," he told her, holding her tight. "I'm sorry for shouting at you earlier."_

"_I'm sorry for saying bad things to onii-chan," Sakura sobbed. "I don't hate onii-chan. I love onii-chan very much. I'll never run away from onii-chan again!"_

_Touya held on to his little sister. He was so glad that she was safe…_

"Sakura? What are you doing here?"

Sakura sat bolt upright as she broke out of her day dream. There, standing in front of her, was Syaoran.

"Syaoran-kun!" she said, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"That's what I just asked you," he said, still staring at her as if he wasn't sure that she was there. "I've been coming here to train in the mornings."

"Oh," Sakura responded. "I come here to…um…escape," she said, feeling embarrassed at her excuse. "If you come here to train, why are you in your school uniform?" she asked.

"Oh, I've already trained this morning," Syaoran said, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. "I was just walking past here when I felt your aura so…I thought I would come and see if you were here."

"I didn't know your apartment was around here."

Syaoran looked at her as if she were slightly crazy. "You can see the blossom forest from my apartment window."

"Ah," Sakura said. _Blossom Forest…that has a nice ring to it,_ Sakura thought. "Oh no! Classroom chores! I forgot!"

Sakura ran over to where her schoolbag lay and she started to put on her roller blades.

"Hey, calm down," Syaoran told her. "School doesn't start for another hour."

"Really?!" Sakura straightened up quickly, but she only had one roller blade on so she lost balance and fell backwards on to the ground.

"Ouch…" she moaned as Syaoran sweatdropped.

[……….

"There!" Sakura said as she finished arranging the flowers in the vase. "Don't they look pretty, Syaoran-kun?"

Syaoran grunted from his chair. He had finished his chores a few minutes ago and was now dozing (or maybe he's meditating…) at his table.

It was still quite early and the other students wouldn't be arriving in school for a while. Sakura sighed and tried to find something to amuse herself with. She gazed around the classroom a few times before sighing again. She was about to tell Syaoran that she was bored, when a red aura prickled at her senses. Seconds later, the classroom door opened and Rohan walked casually in.

"Ah, Sakura-sama! Ohayo!" he greeted her warmly.

"Ohayo, Rohan-kun," Sakura replied to him. "You're in early."

"Yeah, well I could sense that you two were already here, so I thought I might as well come in early," he told her as he put his bag down on top of his desk. "Syaoran-chan! How are you this morning?"

Syaoran opened his eyes to glare at Rohan. "What did you call me?"

"Syaoran-chan," he repeated casually.

Syaoran's glare became harder. "What?" Rohan asked innocently.

"Where were you last night?" Syaoran asked suddenly.

"Last night? I was at home."

"Another one of those Myst Cards showed up," Syaoran told him.

Rohan seemed more alert at this. "Did you seal it?"

"No," Sakura said, walking towards the boys. "We couldn't even see where it was. It started doing these weird things, almost as if…"

"…it were playing pranks on us," Syaoran finished for her.

Rohan looked thoughtful for a moment. "Hmm, there could only be two cards that could do something like that," he told them. "One of them is the Mysterious Brother, who is the cause of all the disturbances, and the other is the Magician."

"I thought you could sense the cards when they made their presence known," Syaoran said.

"I can," Rohan replied, "but the Mysterious Brother and the Magician are so powerful that they can hide their auras completely."

"But…" Sakura started, "I thought that only people gave off an aura."

Rohan ran a hand through his hair. "How do I explain this…ah!" He waved his hand at the blackboard, and the names 'Mysterious Brother' and 'Magician' appeared opposite each other.

Sakura gasped. "How did you…?"

"It's part of my magical ability," Rohan said. "Okay, Sakura," Syaoran twitched slightly at how Rohan didn't use an honorific, "up there we have the two most powerful cards that Master created. Yes?"

The name 'Master' appeared at the top of the board and a 2 lines came out of it, connecting to the names below. Sakura nodded to show that she was following.

"The Mysterious Brother is the strongest of all 21 cards," he continued, and a circled appeared around the name. "Next strongest is the Magician," Rohan waved his hand and that name became underlined, "whose power is closely matched to that of the Brother's.

"Now, Master gave each of these cards so much power that they, in themselves, did not need to depend on the power of a human to sustain them. In this, they broke off their link with Master and existed on their own substantial energy." The lines connecting the two cards to 'Master' vanished. "The Brother and the Magician were the two cards that rarely stayed in their sealed form. You could say that they became close friends." Another line was drawn on the board; this time connecting the two cards together. "They worked together to overthrow Master, even though it was the Mysterious Brother who ultimately defeated him."

With another wave of his hand, all the writing on the board vanished. "Do you follow?" Rohan asked, turning back towards Sakura.

"So…" she began slowly, "even though they are cards, the Mysterious Brother and the Magician can blocked out their auras because they have enough power to do so?"

"Yup!" he replied, cheerfully. "That's why I couldn't sense the card last night. It knows I'm here, it knows my connection to Master, so it can focus its energy on blocking it's aura from me. From what I hear, it was most likely the Magician who you encountered."

"Do you know how we can stop him?" Syaoran asked. He understood Rohan completely, but there was still a missing link somewhere.

"Um…that's rather tricky," he admitted. "The Magician is crafty and sneaky, so, in a way, you need to be crafty and sneaky to catch him. Or just very resourceful."

"Hoe! I'm not sneaky at all! How will I seal it?" Sakura panicked.

"Hey, I said you can be resourceful in sealing it," Rohan told her, putting his hands on her shoulders to calm her down. "Use what you have; your cards will be able to help you."

"Yeah," Sakura said, calming herself.

"That-a girl," Rohan said, patting her affectionately on the head.

Syaoran was almost ready for pummeling him.

[……….

"So you and Touya-san had another fight?" Tomoyo asked.

"It wasn't really a fight," Sakura told her, kicking the dirt beneath her feet; "it was more of an argument."

The girls sat on the swings that afternoon after school had finished. Tomoyo had patiently listened to Sakura's story, and now regarded her friend with a sympathetic expression.

"He's just worried about you," Tomoyo said gently.

Sakura sighed. "When is he not? Ever since I was 10 he's been following my every movement! I appreciate all that he's done for me, I really do! and I really love him for wanting to protect me… but he wont' always be there."

"He leaves for England in a few months, doesn't he?" Tomoyo asked.

"Yeah," Sakura said. "He wants to study the English Law system. I'm not sure why; I don't think he intends to live in England."

"He may be just interested in the way things work over there."

"Yeah," Sakura said, swinging gently back and forth.

The girls sat in silence for a moment before Tomoyo questioned. "Are you going to tell Li-kun?"

For a split-second, Sakura wondered what Tomoyo was talking about. Then she remembered.

"No," she said strongly. "I don't need to burden him with this. What's past is past; there's no point bringing it up again."

"He's already noticed that something's changed," Tomoyo told her.

"He doesn't need to know…" Sakura said, quietly. "…I don't want to worry him…"

Tomoyo smiled gently at her friend. Some things had changed about Sakura, but she was still the little girl who didn't want to put any pressure on her friends. As much as she would love to see the innocent, partially-dense Sakura, she knew that she may never see that side again.

"It's getting late; you must be needing to go home, Tomoyo-chan," Sakura said looking at her friend.

Tomoyo looked at her watch and sighed. "Yes, mother is expecting me back soon: I shouldn't keep her waiting." She stood up and picked her bag off the ground. "Are you going to go home now too?"

Sakura shook her head. "No, I was thinking of talking a walk before I went back," she said. Sakura embraced her friend. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Goodbye, Sakura-chan," Tomoyo said as she turned around to walk down the path. Sakura watched her friend's retreating back for a while, before turning around and heading off in her own direction.

[……….

"Syaoran-kun! How are you?"

Syaoran held the phone away from his tired ears, groaning. Only Meilin would call him at midnight for a friendly chat.

"I'm fine," he said sleepily when Meilin had stopped talking. "What about you?"

"Oh, I'm good," she replied, chirpily. "School is turning out to be pretty good this year! Marissa-san and I were sitting in the classroom the other day and…"

Syaoran tightly shut his eyes and stuffed the phone in to his pillow. He might as well have put it on loud speaker; Meilin's shrill voice still rang in his ears.

"…Marissa and I were totally not in to it, but then sensei said-"

"That's great, Meilin," Syaoran told her, stifling a yawn. "But to what do I owe the pleasure of this late night call?"

"Oh!" she exclaimed, as she remembered her purpose. "I phoned to tell you that I'll be visiting you over summer break!"

This woke him up. "What?!"

"Yep!" she continued, cheerfully. "Okaa-san says that it's okay for me to come over, and your mother wants me to bring some stuff over to you…"

Syaoran groaned again as Meilin continued on her little late-night-rant.

"…and your sisters are wanting to come over as well. Oh, Wei sends his greetings-"

"Whoa!!" Syaoran exclaimed, sitting upright in his bed. Had he heard Meilin right? "What did you say about my sisters?"

"That they're coming over to see you during the summer, too."

"Uh-uh, no way!" Syaoran told her down the phone. "Having you over is one thing, but my sisters?!"

"Oh, come on," Meilin said (Syaoran could almost feel her rolling her eyes); "they barely get to see you when you're at home because you always avoid them! They just want to come over and see how their little brother is doing."

Syaoran was at a total loss. "All four of them?!" he said, desperately.

"Yeah!" Meilin said, oblivious to his distress. "Oh, I have to go now, but I'll talk to you soon, okay?"

Syaoran sighed. "Yeah, okay. G'night."

"'Night!" With a click, the line went dead.

Syaoran tossed the phone on to the table beside his bed. Groaning again, he collapsed back down on to the bed.

Suddenly, the summer didn't seem far enough away.

[……….

"Ohayo, otou-san!" Sakura called the next morning when she entered the kitchen.

"Ohayo, Sakura-chan," Fujitaka responded. "You're up early."

"I wanted to say goodbye to otou-san before he left for his seminar," Sakura told him, gulping down some orange juice.

"That's very kind of you," Fujitaka told her. "Arigato." He frowned for a moment. "Touya said that you two had another argument."

Sakura nodded. "I know we shouldn't have fought, but it just happened," she said quietly.

Fujitaka went over and sat opposite from her at the table. "You seem to be fighting with each other more frequently."

Again, Sakura nodded.

Fujitaka sighed. "I can understand why Touya would be worried now," he said, and Sakura stared blankly at the table, "but you do know that he is concerned about you."

"He used it against me," she said softly.

"I know," Fujitaka said in understanding, "and that was wrong of him, but he only has your best interests at heart. And so do I."

Sakura felt her eyes welling up and she nodded again.

_But why can't you let me do this on my own? _she silently asked.

[……….

"Thank goodness it's Saturday," Chiharu said later on that day. "I don't think I could take much more work this week."

"I totally agree," said Naoko, stretching. "I love school, but I really could use a break."

It was lunch time and Sakura, Chiharu, Naoko, Tomoyo, (Rika was at a piano recital) Syaoran and Takashi were sitting outside. The weekend had arrived and the girls were looking forward to getting out of school soon.

"Did you know that breaks were created when the Neanderthals would push a mammoth off the edge of a cliff, and if they could heard the mammoth's neck breaking, they would celebrate their success by not working the next three days, and-"

"Don't you ever shut up?" Chiharu asked, stuffing a large piece of sushi in to Takashi's open mouth.

"Owhn-hee whor whou (only for you)," he tried to say. Chiharu rolled her eyes at his un-intellectual mumbling and turned back to the girls.

"Do any of you have plans for the weekend?" she asked them.

"I'm going up to Tokyo to go to a ghost exhibition in the museum!" Naoko said excitedly.

"A- a g-ghost exhibition?" Sakura asked, wide-eyed.

Naoko nodded. "There's going to be a talk on the supernatural as well! _And_ things about magic!"

"That sounds interesting," Tomoyo said.

"It is!" Naoko continued. "I'm really looking forward to hearing about people who possess magical powers! Apparently there's still some today," she added mysteriously. Sakura sweatdropped.

"What about you, Tomoyo-chan?" Chiharu asked.

"Sakura-chan is coming over to my house tonight," Tomoyo replied. "Oh- and, Syaoran?" she said, turning to him. "Would you mind stopping by my house later as well?"

"Eh?" Syaoran said, suddenly brought in to the conversation. "Why?"

"I want you to try on some of the outfits I've made!"

Everyone sweatdropped.

"Um, I-I, ah…" he stuttered.

"You will, won't you?" Tomoyo asked. "Please?"

Syaoran tried to think of an excuse to get him out of this. Defeated, he sighed and nodded. Tomoyo squealed in delight.

"What are you going to do, Chiharu-chan?" Naoko asked her.

"Takashi-kun and I are going out tomorrow," she told them. Then turning to Takashi, she said, "Aren't we?"

"Hm?" Takashi asked innocently. "What did you say?" Chiharu almost strangled him.

The bell sounded out across the grounds and the group gathered up their belongings and headed back in to school.

"Kinomoto-san!"

Sakura turned around to see Taisho running in her direction. "Kusatsu-kun!" she said as he fell in to step with her. "How are you?"

"I'm fine," he said. "And you?"

"I'm okay," Sakura replied cheerfully.

"That's good! Are you looking forward to the weekend?" he asked her.

"Hai! I'm going over to Tomoyo-chan's tonight," she said. "Do you have any plans?"

"I'm hoping to go down to Osaka to visit my father," Taisho said. "He's on a work trip down there."

"How exciting! Have you ever been to Osaka before?"

"No…this will be the first time…"

Syaoran stole a furtive glance at Kusatsu Taisho; a furtive glance that was of course caught by Tomoyo.

"Are you concerned?" she asked him.

Syaoran sighed. Nothing could be hidden from Tomoyo. "No."

Tomoyo gave him a knowing look. Syaoran scowled slightly.

"He isn't a threat," Tomoyo told him. "He just wishes to become friends with Sakura-chan."

"But they're getting on so well," Syaoran said, looking at the ground. "Sakura doesn't even talk to me like that…"

Tomoyo looked at Syaoran with sympathy. "Most things we talk about these days are the Myst cards," he continued. "She can't be that open with me."

"Do you think she is being open to Kusatsu-kun?" Tomoyo asked him.

Syaoran listened to Sakura and Taisho behind him;

"Really? Do you enjoy basketball?" Sakura asked.

"Yes, it's the one sport that I could play back home," Taisho told her.

Syaoran turned to Tomoyo. "No," he said.

"That's right," Tomoyo said. "You may think that Sakura isn't open enough with you, Li-kun, but she still talks to you more often."

Syaoran gave Tomoyo a thankful glance.

[……….

"Tomoyo-chan has a great sense of style!" Kero chan commented from the sofa.

Sakura had just stepped out of the dressing room in Tomoyo-chan's huge house, and she was feeling slightly nervous. She was dressed in a light pink shirt, which was tied at the bottom. She wore denim shorts and underneath those were white leggings. Her hair was loosely curled and she had small heels on her feet.

"As much as I like it Tomoyo-chan," Sakura said, twirling around to observe herself in the wall-length mirror, "I can't help but feel that your creativity has dampened down a little."

"Oh ho ho!" Tomoyo laughed while recording Sakura. "This is only a warm up! I have much more detailed outfits in the back!" Looking at the closed door on the other side of the room, she queried, "I wonder what is taking Li-kun so long. Well, Sakura-chan, go and try the next one on!"

Sakura nodded slightly and walked back in to the changing room.

"What's next, Tomoyo-chan?" Kero asked, stuffing another cupcake in to his little mouth.

"Well, since Li-kun is taking so long, their outfits are going to be matching when they step out!"

"So…these aren't battle costumes?" Kero said.

"Oh, no!" Tomoyo said, delighted. "These are outfits that I have made for the both of them in my spare time!"

"Uh…Daidouji-san?" came Syaoran's voice from the now-ajar door at the other side of the room. "What was going through your mind when you made this?"

"Oh, come out Li-kun!" Tomoyo squealed excitedly. "I want to see Li-kun wearing the outfit that I made!"

Syaoran sighed and reluctantly made his way out of the changing room. Kero immediately snorted with laughter.

"Whaddaya know," Kero managed to choke out, "Tomoyo-chan can make the brat look good!"

Syaoran glared at Kero as Tomoyo gleefully recorded him from every angle. Syaoran was wearing a plain white t-shirt with loose leather trousers. His messy hair gave him an overall attractive look.

"Li-kun suits these colors very well!" Tomoyo said. "You should wear them more often."

"I prefer to wear green…" Syaoran commented, but it fell upon deaf ears.

"Um… Tomoyo-chan? I'm not entirely sure about this one," Sakura said quietly from the other changing room.

"Sakura-chan! You must come out!" Tomoyo said, now pointed the camera at the slowly opening door.

When Sakura stepped out, all Syaoran could do was stare at her. Even Kero paused his eating session to gap at his Mistress.

Sakura was dresses in all black. She wore a black top, which only started a bit below her collar bone and had short sleeves. Part of her stomach was visible because of the low-cut, tight leather trousers she was wearing. On her feet she wore large black heeled shoes.

The room was silent except for the sound of Tomoyo's video camera buzzing away. Kero looked from Sakura to Syaoran, back to Sakura again and then finally at Syaoran, before he burst out laughing.

Syaoran glared again at Kero. "What's so funny, stuffed-animal?"

Kero was laughing too much to hear Syaoran's question/insult. "Tomoyo-chan? I think I know what movie you've been watching lately!"

Tomoyo's eyes went starry. "I just couldn't help picturing Sakura as Sandy after watching it!"

Sakura's eyes went wide and she looked at herself, and then at Syaoran. Syaoran did the same. It clicked for them both at the same time.

They were almost complete look-a-likes of Sandy and Danny from 'Grease'.

"Tomoyo-chan/Daidouji-san!" they both said simultaneously.

"Oh ho ho!" Tomoyo laughed. "I'm sorry, but I couldn't resist after watching it!"

Sakura and Syaoran looked at each other before heading back in to their separate changing rooms.

"Oh well," Tomoyo said as the doors closed. "At least I could film it!"

About 10 minutes later, Sakura and Syaoran exited the changing rooms in their normal clothes, and went and joined Tomoyo on the large sofa. The servants had brought them some tea and more cakes, which Kero immediately began munching on.

"Sakura-chan, do you have any plans for the summer break?" Tomoyo asked, sipping gracefully on her tea.

Sakura shook her head. "I don't, onii-chan and otou-san do!"

Syaoran paused from drinking his own tea and asked her, "Where are they going?"

"Onii-chan is going to a university in England, so he has to go over there during the summer to get shown around campus, and otou-san has a meeting with an architectural group over there during the same dates."

"You'll…be on your own?" Syaoran said.

"Yes," Sakura said, looking down but brightening up almost immediately. "But it's okay: I can take care of myself while they're gone!"

"And if you need anything, Sakura-chan, I would be glad to help," Tomoyo told her cousin.

Sakura's eyes softened. "Thank you, Tomoyo-chan."

A ringing sounded out around the room.

"That's strange," Tomoyo said, looking about her. "I don't think we have a phone in here."

"Ahh…it's me, sorry," Syaoran said, fumbling about in his pocket and drawing out his cell phone. Without looking at the screen he answered it. "Li Syaoran."

"SYAAAAAAORAAAAAAAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Sakura and Tomoyo jumped at the shrill squeal that erupted from the small cell phone. Syaoran held the phone at a safe distance from his ear. When he decided to risk bringing it back to his head, he questioned warily, "…Feimei?"

"Oh, _Syaoran_, you remember the sound of my voice! How awfully touching! And here I thought you had forgotten about your sisters!"

Syaoran sweatdropped at looked at his phone with unease. Sakura and Tomoyo giggled.

"We've all been awfully worried about you," Feimei continued. "No call or anything since you set foot in Japan! Do you know how much we missed you? We were all so relieved when cousin Meilin told us that she had got in contact with you. To think that she would be able to reach you when your own direct family couldn't! It hurts the heart; _and _the pride-"

"Onee-san…" Syaoran tried to cut across her.

"-to think that you wouldn't bother to tell us that you were safe!" Feimei didn't hear her brother's voice. "Well, of course Meilin told us all about your little midnight chat and-"

"Onee-san!!" Syaoran said much louder this time. Sakura and Tomoyo jumped slightly in surprise.

"Oh, what is it, Otouto?" Feimei asked innocently.

Syaoran realized that he didn't have anything he had actually wanted to ask. "Er…" he improvised, "…how did you get this number?"

"Oh, come on Syaoran! We're part of the Li-clan! We'd obviously be able to track down your cell phone number."

Syaoran sighed.

"Where are you?" Feimei asked.

Syaoran was about to reply when Sakura said, "Kero-chan!! Don't eat so much: you'll make yourself sick!"

Kero puffed himself up and protested, "I am the great Cerberus-sama! I do _not _get sick!"

Syaoran inwardly cringed himself at what he knew was about to come.

"OOOOOOOOOH MY GOD!" Feimei squealed. "Are you with Sakura-san? Is she there? Is she? Have you been spending time with her? Are you at her house? Is she at your house? Are you out together? Are you on a date! Oh my gosh, I'm so happy for you!"

Sakura blushed as she heard Feimei's high pitched voice ranting away. Syaoran was also blushing at his sister's new speech. Tomoyo giggled quietly and had her camera in hand again.

"Um, 'nee-san? I'm sorry but I really have to g-"

"Feimei! Get off that phone so I can call my friend!" came Syaoran's eldest sister's voice. He groaned out loud.

"But Fuutie, I'm talking to Syaoran!"

There was silence on the line. Then Fuutie screamed. "Syaoran?! Syaoran!! Oh, dearest little Syaoran!! Fanren! Shiefa! Come quick; Syaoran's on the phone!"

There were several more squeals of delight and footsteps could be heard, along with cheers of, "Syaoran!"

"I've got to go!" Syaoran said quickly and he hung up. He then turned his phone off and stuffed it back in to his pocket.

"Whoa," Sakura said after a few seconds silence. "It was almost like they were in the room."

"You have very excitable sisters, Li-kun," Tomoyo said.

"You don't need to tell me," Syaoran said, rubbing his hand over his face. "I had to live with that for fourteen years. You suffered for about 24 hours!"

"But they seemed so nice when we met them!' Sakura said, remembering the trip to Hong Kong several years ago. "Surely, you love them because they are your family?"

Syaoran was about to reply when he felt a presence around him. Sakura had also felt it and turned still.

Kero popped out from where he was hiding in the couch (to escape Sakura's scolding him). "Hm…it's the same force that we felt the other night."

Sakura nodded and stood up. "We should contact Rohan-kun, just incase he can't feel it." Sakura drew out her own cell phone and proceeded to flick down her address book before she stopped.

"What?" Syaoran asked her.

Sakura looked up from her phone. "Does anyone have Rohan-kun's number?"

Everyone sweatdropped.

[……….

"I can't believe he wasn't at his apartment," Syaoran said for the millionth time.

"Syaoran-kun, if you're going to keep complaining then go home," Sakura told him, fed up.

Syaoran scowled but remained silent. There was something about Sakura being commanding that was slightly scary.

"Tomoyo-chan, are you sure you're okay?" Sakura called out to a tree. "I'd feel so much happier if I knew you were safe at home."

"I'm fine," Tomoyo said, peeping out from behind the tree trunk with her camera. "I don't want to miss a chance to record Sakura-chan in another outfit!"

Sakura sighed and then glared at Syaoran, who was looking quite smug.

"I can't believe you got out of wearing an outfit," Sakura said to him.

Syaoran smiled slightly. "It's a trick of mine."

"You'll need to teach me it," Sakura told him, holding her staff in front of her.

The force had led them to the field out behind their school, which was surrounded by a line of trees on each side. The sky was dark and overcast, the large, grey clouds looming over their heads. Sakura and Syaoran stood facing the football pitch, and Cerberus drifted in the sky above them.

"Where's Yue these days?" Syaoran asked. "I expected him to turn out more often at an event like this."

"Ah, well um…" Sakura began, not looking at Syaoran. "Yukito-san and Onii-chan are out together tonight so I…"

"Out together?" Syaoran repeated looking at her.

Sakura nodded. "They haven't seen each other much lately, so I don't want to disturb their time with each other."

Syaoran stared at Sakura for a while, thinking about her selflessness.

"Unless, there's a force behind me, I think your eye-line should be concentrated elsewhere," Sakura told him, teasingly.

"Ah, right," Syaoran said embarrassedly. Blushing lightly, he kept his eyes on the field in front of him.

They stood there for almost twenty minutes in silence, waiting patiently for the force to do something. After a while, Sakura couldn't stand it anymore.

"This is so frustrating!" she exclaimed. "I can feel it around here but it refuses to move!"

"We just need to be patient with it," Syaoran muttered, although he had run out of patience himself.

But Sakura had a mind of her own. "If it's not going to appear, then I'll make it," she said, holding her staff above her head.

"Eh?" Syaoran said.

The Star Circle appeared at Sakura's feet. "Myst Force!" she called out in to the night. "Appear. I, Sakura, command you to come out. Show yourself!" A bright light erupted from the circle and enclosed Sakura with it.

Syaoran couldn't help but stare dumbfounded at Sakura. Cerberus flew down to land beside Syaoran.

"Did you teach her to do that?" Syaoran asked the winged beast, never taking his eyes of the Star Circle.

"No," said Cerberus. "But Sakura has gained the knowledge by herself to know what she can and can't do."

The light vanished and Sakura reappeared, along with a black-cloaked figure. Its hood was drawn up so you could not see its face.

"Well, well, well," the figure said in a clearly masculine voice. "Who would have known that the little Card Mistress would have to power to summon me?" He spoke with a mocking air.

Sakura didn't let her guard drop for one moment. "Who are you?" she said.

"I'm many things," the figure said.

"I didn't come here to play games," Sakura said. "Are you the Magician?"

The figure was caught off guard. "How did you know?" he asked eventually.

"I have contacts," Sakura stated coolly.

"Then you also know that you cannot simply seal me with a few silly words."

"Of course," Sakura said. "That's why I plan to defeat you first."

Syaoran couldn't help but stare in awe at Sakura. He knew that she had changed, but she had never shown so much responsibility and composure before when facing an enemy. What had happened to her?

"I'm not defeated easily," the Magician said. "How should we do this? Tricks? Traps?" He conjured up a ball of raw energy in his hands. "Thaumaturgy?" he added.

"That doesn't rhyme," Sakura said, her cards at the ready.

"Oh, but it fits so well," and with that, the Magician let loose the energy at her.

"Sakura!" Syaoran called out. Sakura dodged the ball and the next one that the Magician sent at her.

"Firey!" she shouted. The Firey swirled towards the Magician and enclosed him in the flames. But he was not in there for long before he broke out of it.

"I'm not so weak that former Clow Cards can stop me," he said, drawing out a sword from his robes and wielding it in front of him. "What do you say, Card Mistress? Can you fight me?"

Syaoran made his move to stand in between the Magician and Sakura, holding his own sword in front of him.

"Fight me instead," Syaoran said, facing the Magician with fierce eyes. "There's no way in hell that you're going to touch her."

The Magician faltered for a moment. His mouth then curved in to a wicked grin, and he opened his mouth to reply-

"Syaoran! I don't need you to fight my battles!" Sakura called out from behind him.

"Sakura, do you even know how to sword fight?" Syaoran asked her, not turning around.

Sakura was silent for a second. "That's not the point!" she retorted. "The point is that I'm not the same, weak 11-year-old girl who needs someone to look out for her!"

"I never said that you were weak: I just said that you can't sword fight!"

The Magician straightened up from his fighting stance to observe the two teens.

"Is that my fault?!"

"That's not what I meant!"

"Then what did you mean? You think I can't defeat him?"

"No! I meant…"

"Uh…hello?" the Magician said, but it fell upon deaf ears. "Is anyone going to fight me?" Seeing that they weren't listening, he sighed in exasperation.

Syaoran had now turned around, and he and Sakura were facing each other.

"You have to learn that I can take care of myself!" Sakura shouted at him.

"I never said you couldn't-" Syaoran tried, but she cut him off again.

"I was going to stall him so that I could think of a plan!" Sakura continued. "I am a girl; I can multitask."

"So, you're saying that I can't do two things at the same time?!" Syaoran shouted at her.

"Um…Sakura-chan?" Cerberus said.

"Well, you've never shown any evidence that you can!"

"What do you want me to do? Pat my head and rub my stomach?!"

"It would be a start-"

"Sakura-chan!!"

"WHAT?!" both Sakura and Syaoran shouted.

Sweatdropping, Cerberus told them, "The Magician's gone."

Sakura and Syaoran blinked at each other, and then looked to the spot where the Magician had been just minutes before. Sure enough, he was no longer there, and his presence was gone. Rain started to pelt down from the skies on top of them.

Sakura and Syaoran stared at each other for a while, before…

"You let him get away!"

"Me? How was it my fault?!"

"You turned around to start shouting at me!"

"You started it!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

Kero, now transformed back to his smaller size, sighed. Those two were starting to give him a headache.

[……….

"I hate climbing through windows," Sakura grumbled as she jumped in to her room. "It makes life difficult."

"Well, you said you didn't want to use the door," Kero said, shaking the water out of his fur. "What do you plan to do, soaked like that?"

Sakura looked down herself and realized that she was drenched. Again. Sighing, she said, "I'll just dry off and get to bed. Onii-chan will be suspicious if I'm getting a shower this late at night."

When Sakura had gotten in to some dry clothes and towel-dried her hair, she clambered in to bed and Kero snuggled down beside her.

"I hope that the Magician will be caught soon," he said sleepily, his eyes drifting shut. "He really is a nuisance…"

"Yeah," Sakura said, but Kero had already fallen asleep. Sakura smiled at her sleeping companion and lay back. The evening's events kept flashing through her mind. Even though she was annoyed with Syaoran, she couldn't get his words out of her head. _"There's no way in hell that you're going to touch her." _What did he mean by that? And why did she feel almost happy when he had said it?

Sighing, Sakura closed her eyes, and let the drumming of the rain on the rooftop lull her to sleep.

---------------------------------------

Wooo! My longest chapter yet!! Do you wanna know how many words it was? Huh? 8, 686!!! An all time record, although it did take me over a week to write it at intervals

This is odd, but I really enjoyed adding Meilin and Syaoran's sisters in to the story. I'm soooooo looking forward to writing about his sisters coming over to seem him during the summer!

Ah…I'm not sure where to go with the whole 'scar-on-sakura's-arm' thing. I would really appreciate it if you could give me ideas of how she could have gotten the scar (self harm is out of the question!). I'm serious, if you have anything in mind, I would love to hear from you via my email, which is visible if you look under my account, or you could just leave me a review [hint hint

Heh, I'm enjoying writing this so much. But it really takes a lot of time. I've got homework every night (which I somehow manage to get done) and school is probably going to become more demanding soon….but I will always make time to write! Oh, but school is enjoyable! We're undergoing practices for the musical 'Les Miserables' and it is great!! During the song 'Master of the House' we have to act drunk, and, since we only have a piano to accompany us so far, we sing the little saxophone parts…

Thenandier: Welcome Miseur, sit yourself down, and meet the best innkeeper in town

Chorus[do dooooo do dooo!!

hehe. it gets out music teacher laughing. especially when we all do it.

Uh…I'm going to stop yapping now……and check the other chapters before I post them!!

If you have any questions or ideas [HINT please, please email me!!

elmo-doodle xxxxxxxx

18th September 2007


	5. Chapter 5: The Dark Past

...guess who wrote another chapter?

no, seriously. guess.

well, this took a little longer than i thought it would. i'm sorry for the wait, but i haven't been in the right 'mood' to write this chapter. it's slightly dark , but nothing that should make you feel all icky and unhappy. i did give this chapter a happy ending to lighten the mood.

oh! before you read this, i'd advise re-reading chapter 3, if you haven't already done so. i've changed a tiny little bit of the plot, but chapter 3 is the only one you need to re-read to get up-to-date with the changes made.

well, here we go. chapter 5 is up and atom!!

------------------------------------------------

Cheers of joy erupted from one side of the field while groans of disappointment echoed from the other. The junior school soccer championships had started and the first game was being held out the back of Seijou Junior High. Almost all of the school had come out to watch the game whilst a rather large crowd had came from the opposing team, Kasai Junior High.

Out on the field, Syaoran wiped the sweat of his brow and looked at the scoreboard. 3-3; they needed to score a goal in the remaining ten minutes to win the game…assuming that their opponents didn't score first. He ran back to his side of the field to await the kick off from the other team.

Up in the stands, Tomoyo sat beside Rohan, video-taping the game.

"It's very exciting, isn't it, Hernandez-kun?" she asked, zooming in on Syaoran's face. "Li-kun is very focused on the game."

"Soccer is a little to simple for my liking," Rohan said, observing the boys on the field running after the ball.

"Did you play many sports at your school in America?" Tomoyo asked, now zooming in on the cheerleading squad.

"I did a bit of ice hockey," he admitted, "but that was it. I'm not interested in sports."

"I understand," she said. "Some sport is too rough for my liking. Oh! Sakura-chan does look like she's enjoying herself!"

Rohan glanced over at the cheerleaders in their green and white outfits, jumping up and down. They were shaking their pompoms and cheering their team on. He rolled his eyes.

"Do they never consider that their cheering might actually be a distraction?" he muttered, returning his focus to the game playing out in front of him. Their side of the crowd booed as one of the members from the Kasai team purposely tripped up one of the boys from Seijou. After a short shouting match with the referee, Seijou were giving a penalty shot which was blocked by the goal-keeper. Rohan yawned from boredom and decided to watch Tomoyo recording everything. He found it slightly more amusing.

Hidden behind some trees on the far side of the pitch, Kusatsu Taisho watched the game progress. Several times did he need to restrain himself from making the game more interesting by reminding himself that Sakura and Syaoran would definitely feel the magic and head towards his direction. Taisho's eyes then settled on Rohan, and he watched him in silence.

"You're not concerned?" said a voice from beside him. Taisho turned his head to the right to find the Magician standing near.

Taisho smiled. "He is not a threat," he said, returning his gaze to Rohan. "He does not suspect a thing."

They stood in silence for a moment. "Brother, why do you toy with these children?" the Magician asked, looking from Sakura to Syaoran. The crowd cheered as Syaoran scored another goal and the game ended. "What is to be gained?"

"Their power will help us ascend," Taisho told him as he watched the cheerleading squad run out to the soccer team. He smirked when he saw Sakura throw her arms around Syaoran's neck as he turned a bright red. "With the addition of their power, we will overcome this puny world."

"Then why do you allow her to capture us?" the Magician asked hotly.

" 'Sakura Cards' have more power than the 'Myst' set," Taisho replied, calmly. "Allowing her to seal you gives you more power." He paused as he watched the opposing teams shake hands. "When I defeat her," he continued, "I shall take her power from her, along with all the cards she has sealed."

"She is powerful enough to fight us: are you sure you will win over her?"

Taisho smiled wistfully. "Hernandez-sama only created two truly powerful cards," he looked the Magician in the eyes meaningfully. "The others are as powerful as Clow Reed made his cards, perhaps some even less."

"Our sisters are the weakest, but they are cunning and intelligent," the Magician said. They silently watched the people leave the field.

"I must leave," Taisho said and he turned around and walked away. He stopped after a few meters and called back, "You appeared here to cause trouble, I assume?"

"You know me well, brother."

Taisho turned around and studied the Magician's eyes. "Ahh…I see what you are planning," he said, folding his arms and becoming stern. "Go easy on them at first. And do not allow yourself to be captured."

"I won't," said the Magician as he disappeared in to the air.

"Be safe, brother," Taisho said and he turned around and continued walking back towards the school.

--------

"Syaoran-kun was amazing!" Sakura said when Syaoran exited the locker rooms.

Turning red, Syaoran mumbled, "I wasn't that good…"

"You scored 3 out of the 4 goals!" Sakura told him. "_And _you worked the hardest!"

Syaoran became a deeper shade of red. Tomoyo giggled and pointed the camera at him. Syaoran glared in to the lense of it.

"Did you enjoy the match, Rohan-kun?" Sakura asked him.

Rohan, who was walking behind them, did not hear what she had said.

"Rohan-kun?" Sakura repeated, waving a hand in front of his face.

"Huh?" he said, coming out of his daze. "Ah, I apologize; I was a little out of it."

Sakura was about to ask what was wrong when it suddenly hit her. A strong wave of power swept over her that she knew did not belong to Rohan or Syaoran. She whipped around to face the direction in which it had come from, but as soon as she had turned, it was gone. The looks on the faces of Rohan and Syaoran told her that they had felt it too.

"Sakura-chan?" Tomoyo asked, debating whether she should retrieve her camera back out of her bag or not. "Is it another card?"

"It was…" Sakura replied, frowning. "But it's gone now."

Rohan looked around himself once more before grinning. "Well, I should probably be heading off now." He held out his arm in front of Tomoyo. "Daidouji-san," he said, winking at her, "may I escort you home?"

Tomoyo smiled as she looped her arm around his. "You may," she told him. "Goodbye, Sakura-chan, Li-kun."

"Goodbye," Sakura and Syaoran said as they watched Rohan and Tomoyo disappear together.

"Tomoyo-chan and Rohan-kun are really getting on well!" Sakura said happily as she and Syaoran started to make their own way home.

"Yeah," Syaoran said. "You don't think…Daidouji likes Hernandez, do you?"

Sakura thought for a moment before replying cheerfully, "I don't believe that she has any special feelings for him, and the person who she does like isn't here at the moment."

"Who?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out," Sakura told him, teasingly. "Besides," she added, "if Tomoyo-chan likes Rohan-kun, then I hope the very best for her!"

--------

"Sakura-san," Kinomoto Fujitaka called. "Would you come down her for a few minutes?"

"Hai!" Sakura said as she went downstairs and into the kitchen. There she found her brother and her father sitting at on end of the table. She took a seat opposite them.

"You know that in a few weeks your brother and I have to leave for England," Fujitaka began, and Sakura nodded. "We just wanted to make sure that you would be okay on your own for a while."

Touya grunted to show that he agreed.

Sakura smiled at them. "I'll be fine," she said. "I've always got Tomoyo-chan if I need any help. Besides, you won't be away for that long, will you?"

Fujitaka shook his head. "No; a couple of days or a week at the most…but after what happened to you…"

Sakura felt a few emotions at that point; love for her father worrying about her, annoyance that he had to bring _that_ up again and fear as she was reminded about the event. "It's been two years; I'm 15 years old now, I can take care of myself."

Yes, Fujitaka knew that. He's known that she could take care of herself ever since she was 11 years old. But after she got hurt, he started to wonder if she really could. He had never told Sakura that he knew about her magical powers, just as Touya hadn't. It seemed to be easier to not mention it when they were together. Fujitaka thought that since she had powers, she would be able to look after herself, but…

"I'll be fine," Sakura said strongly as she saw the doubt in her father's eyes. "I'll call you if something happens."

Fujitaka slightly smiled in relief. "Hai," he said, and then he got up. "I have to go to a lecture now, and I won't be back until later. Touya-kun has to go to work, too."

"Okay," Sakura said as her father and brother left the room.

"Oi, kaijou," Touya said turning around. "Don't destroy the house while we're gone."

"I am _not_ a kaijou!" Sakura shouted at him. Touya just laughed and walked away. She sighed as she heard the front door close. She looked at the stairs and decided that she had better get her homework done.

--------

Syaoran sat in his apartment doing his own homework at the living room table. The TV was on in front of him, playing the evening news. Syaoran exhaled as he finished off the last homework that was to be done. He placed the books in a neat pile on the table and stood up to stretch.

"And now for the latest report," the news announcer said on the TV. "Electricity supplies have been cut in several areas of Tomoeda in the past 24 hours…"

Syaoran mindlessly got up to turn the TV off.

"…the sudden power cuts are unusual and this has not been experienced for several years in this part of Ja-"

The TV screen turned off as Syaoran pushed the button. He was contemplating doing a bit of cleaning around the house when he felt a force in Tomoeda. Syaoran rushed to the phone and dialed in Sakura's number. He waited for a while and there was only silence on the other line. He was about to try again when he heard a voice in the receiver.

"It has not been possible to connect your call," said an automated voice. "The person's phone has been switched off."

Cursing Syaoran put the phone down and did the next best thing that he could.

He ran over to Sakura's house.

--------

Sakura was slouched over the desk in her room as she tried to tackle some math problems. Kero was, as always, glued to the television screen, playing another racing game.

Sakura yawned as she started yet another question.

"Sakura-chan, if you're tired you should go to bed," Kero said, not looking away from the TV.

Sakura shook her head. "I can't; I have to get my homework done before tomorrow." She tried to contain another yawn but failed. "Maybe if I get some water it'll keep me awake…"

"AAHH!!!! NO YOU DON'T!! YOU CAN'T BEAT ME!" Kero shouted at the TV.

Sakura shook her head and got up from her chair. She began walking towards the door when she suddenly felt a force.

_That's strange,_ she thought. _It's the third time I've felt a force appearing, but it always disappears a second later…_ She looked over at Kero on the floor. _Kero-chan doesn't seemed to have noticed it…maybe I am too tired._ Sakura shrugged and walked out of her bedroom. As she walked down the stairs, Sakura couldn't help but get the feeling that something was wrong. When she reached the living she picked up the phone and dialed Tomoyo's house number. All Sakura could hear was the monotone blearing out of the earpiece.

"The line's dead…" Sakura was starting to get a bit unnerved now. As she walked in to the kitchen, she found herself more wary about her surroundings. It was silly, she shouldn't be afraid in her own house. Getting a glass from the cupboard, she filled it with water and sipped it.

Sakura turned around and leaned against the kitchen counter. She tried taking deep breaths to relax herself. Closing her eyes, she let her powers search for any unusual auras nearby…nothing, except…

A tapping at the kitchen window broke Sakura out of her trance. She put the glass down on the counter and cautiously approached the window. She opened it and nervously stuck her head outside. There was no-one there.

"S-Sakura…"

Sakura looked down, and to her horror, she saw Syaoran standing there…

…covered in blood.

"Syaoran!" Sakura shouted. She ran to the back door and opened it, running out to Syaoran. "Syaoran!" she called again.

Syaoran was barely supporting himself with his sword. There were multiple tears in his shirt and beneath it Sakura could see many cuts that were seeping out blood. His shirt was soaked in blood and water. Syaoran's face was scrunched up in pain.

"Quick, get inside," Sakura said. She helped to support Syaoran in through the back door. She carefully helped him to sit on the cool kitchen floor against the wall. "Wait here," she told him.

"I'm hardly…going to move…" Syaoran said. Sakura ran out of the kitchen.

Syaoran's sword lay beside him on the floor. It hadn't been much use to him; Syaoran couldn't see his attacker, but he knew that there were two forces involved…

Sakura quickly ran back in to the kitchen with a first aid kit. She kneeled down beside Syaoran on the floor.

"I need you to take your shirt off," she said. Syaoran raised his eyebrows at her. "So I can see your cuts," Sakura told him.

Syaoran pushed himself away from the wall and, in a joint effort, they managed to get the ruined shirt off him.

"Syaoran…" Sakura asked softly. "…what happened?"

"I felt…a force," Syaoran said, and he winced slightly as Sakura began to clean his wounds. "It tried to call you but-ow!" Sakura had pressed a little too hard.

"Sorry," Sakura muttered. She gently applied pressure to the cuts with a wet towel, but it was hard when her hands were trembling.

Syaoran didn't notice this. "I had tried to call you but I couldn't get through…so I decided to come over to your house."

Sakura stayed silent and continued to clean the blood of Syaoran's chest. She was in too much shock to even blush.

"It started when I was going through the park," Syaoran continued. "First it was just the Magician trying to soak me again, but then he said something…" He frowned. "I couldn't make it out; I think he was speaking English. Next thing I knew, I had a cut in my arm."

Sakura was trying to ignore the blood that was slowly making its way from Syaoran's chest to her hands. She was trying to focus on what he was saying. It could be important…

"I began to run after that," Syaoran said. "I couldn't see what was attacking me so I tried to outrun it." He laughed harshly, which made him wince at the pain in his chest. "It seemed to like a chase."

Sakura nodded and murmured a weak, "Sit up" as she began to apply a bandage around his waist. Syaoran obliged and tried to make the process easier for her by helping, ignoring the pain in his arms.

"The force disappeared not long before I arrived here…" Syaoran tried to look in to Sakura's eyes. "…I wanted to make sure that it hadn't hurt you too."

Sakura, however, did not meet his eyes and stayed very silent. Syaoran noticed this and, when the bandage was on securely, Sakura continued to look down at her lap.

Syaoran began to grow concerned at her lack of sound. "Sakura?"

Sakura began to shake slightly but still didn't look up. Syaoran wondered what was unnerving her and he followed her eye-line on to her lap- or so he thought. Sakura was staring at her arm with terrified eyes. It didn't Syaoran long to discover that the arm she was staring at was the one which had the scar on it.

And the scar was covered in Syaoran's blood.

Syaoran sat up, ignoring the pain that shot through his waist. "Sakura?" he said again, trying to break her out of her state. "Sakura, look at me."

She refused to look up and was shocked when he saw that tears were starting to for in her eyes.

"What's wrong?" he asked her.

Syaoran was about to put his arms on her shoulders when he heard the front door open and close.

"Kaijou, I'm home. I got off early from work."

Syaoran froze in a mixture of fear and shock. What was Touya going to think when he saw Syaoran in his kitchen shirtless and bandaged, and his little sister sitting on the floor crying?

"Kaijou, where are you?" Touya called out as he walked across the living room in to the kitchen. "If you're going to tell me that you've went to be early, I'm going to think that you're ill…"

Touya walked in to the kitchen and froze as he saw the scene before him. Syaoran was on the floor with a bandage on his waist, his shirt lying beside him. Touya's eyes flickered to Sakura who was now beginning to shake violently. When he saw the blood on Sakura's arm, his eyes went to the first aid kit on the floor, to Syaoran's bloodied shirt, to Syaoran's bandaged midriff and back to Sakura's arm. In less than a second, Touya had strode over to Sakura's side, and with strong arms picked her up. He turned to glare at Syaoran.

"Stay here," he said fiercely to the boy on the floor. Syaoran was too shocked to do anything else.

Touya gently carried his little sister out of the kitchen and up the stairs to her room. The door was already slightly ajar, and he heard the sound of a TV quickly being put on mute. Touya pushed the door open with his foot and wasn't at all surprised to see the little stuffed-animal sitting in front of the games console. Touya carried Sakura over to her bed, and laid her down on it. Sakura's eyes were now closed and she curled herself up in to a ball. He wanted to stay to make sure Sakura was alright, but he had to deal with the brat downstairs. Touya began to walk out of the room, but he paused at the doorframe.

"Sakura's in shock," he said, with his back to the room. "I don't know what happened, but someone needs to watch over her while I talk to the brat." He walked out and closed the door behind him. He knew that the guardian beast would make sure that she's okay.

When Touya walked back in to the kitchen, Syaoran had stood up off the floor and had the bloodied shirt on in an attempt to cover him. Syaoran had recovered from his shock and now was expecting all hell to break loose. He glared at Touya as Touya returned the favor.

"I don't know what happened tonight," Touya began, not breaking eye-contact, "but whatever it was, do not question Sakura about it. She will let you know when she wants to."

"Am I allowed to question you?" Syaoran asked him.

Touya continued to look at Syaoran, but his glare didn't seem as hard. "It's up to Sakura whether you know what happened."

Syaoran was confused for a moment but then he realized what Touya meant: when Sakura is ready, she will tell him what happened that caused her to change.

Syaoran nodded and he turned around to leave.

"Oi," Touya said to his retreating back. "Something else has started up again, hasn't it?"

Syaoran wasn't too shocked that Touya was questioning about the magical forces that seem to be appearing. Still… "It's not my place to tell. You're the one who's family to Sakura. She should be the one to tell you." And with that, Syaoran left the Kinomoto house and began to cautiously make his way home.

Touya once again glared at the spot where Syaoran had stood. Turning around, he began to head back upstairs to check on Sakura.

--------

"Touya-kun, Sakura-san, I'm home," Fujitaka called as he walked into the house.

"Okaa-san," Touya said, coming downstairs. He had been up in Sakura's room. "You're home early."

"Hai," he said, hanging his coat up and taking off his shoes. "The lecture wasn't as long as I had anticipated. I tried phoning several times from the train to say I would be home soon." He looked around the living room, noticing the stillness of the house. "Where is Sakura-san?"

"She's sleeping in her room," Touya lied. Fujitaka raised a questioning eyebrow. "She wasn't feeling well when I got home."

Fujitaka nodded, satisfied. "It's good of her to get some rest. I thought it was unusual for her to be in bed so early."

"Yeah," Touya responded. He had decided that it was best not to tell his father what had happened that night. Sakura had also mumbled not to tell him anything. "Did you say you had tried to phone the house?"

"Hai." Fujitaka had walked in to the kitchen and began preparing some tea. "Several times, but it said that the phone had been unplugged."

Touya burrowed his brow in thought. Sakura said a few minutes before she fell asleep that she couldn't get through to Tomoyo, and also that Syaoran couldn't get through to their house.

"There have been some power shortages throughout Tomoeda lately," Fujitaka said, getting down two cups. "Perhaps it's affected our power lines."

Touya nodded and looked out the kitchen window. He noticed something dangling in front of the glass. "Or maybe it's only affected the telephone lines around here." Touya went outside and in to the back garden. He stood beneath the window and looked up. There was a cut cable hanging from the roof. Carefully, Touya took hold of the line, and looked at where it had been sliced. It was a very fine, even cut and the wires inside hadn't been frayed.

"Touya, what is it?" Fujitaka said, also walking outside.

"Someone's cut the phone cable," Touya said. _Or something_, he thought.

"Oh dear," his father said. "I'll go to the town in the morning and see if I can find someone to fix it."

Touya nodded. He let go of the cable and followed his father back inside the house.

--------

Syaoran was surprised to find Sakura at school the next day. He had expected her to maybe stay off for a little while, after the behavior that he had seen the previous evening. As Syaoran approached his desk, he could see Sakura talking in a hushed voice to Tomoyo. Sakura's face was worried and her eyes were slightly teary. She looked up at Syaoran, and immediately her appearance became brighter.

"Ohayo, Syaoran-kun," she said, smiling.

Syaoran could tell that her change in mood had been completely forced, and her smile didn't reach her eyes. "Ohayo," he responded politely. "Sakura, about last night…" Syaoran trailed off as he saw Tomoyo shaking her head behind Sakura's back.

"What about it?" Sakura asked happily, but her eyes were silently begging him not to say anything.

Syaoran obeyed, and sighed. "Nothing, never mind."

The teacher walked in to the room and greeted the class. Sakura, relieved, turned to face the front of the room. She could feel Syaoran's eyes on the back of her head all day long.

--------

Syaoran was called for a soccer meeting after school, so it was about an hour after everyone else went home that he managed to leave to school grounds. He was surprised to see a tall figure standing by the gates, but when he got closer towards it, he was more surprised to find Kinomoto Touya standing there.

When Syaoran approached him, he walked past Touya and said, "Sakura's already left."

"I came to speak to you," Touya said, making Syaoran stop in his tracks. "Sakura's father and I will be going over to England during the summer holidays, and Sakura is going to be left alone." He sighed in frustration. "She says that she'll be fine but I know how she feels about it. That's why," he faltered, barely able to speak the words. "I came to you."

Syaoran turned around to face Touya, who was looking at him very seriously. "Sakura didn't want me to say anything at first, but she eventually gave in and has allowed me to speak to you."

Syaoran looked confused. Touya sighed again. "I think that it's important that you know what happened to Sakura."

Syaoran's eyes widened with amazement. "Don't think that I don't like you, because honestly, you're my least favorite person in the world-"

"The feeling's mutual," Syaoran mumbled.

"- maybe apart from Akizuki-san," Touya finished, and he blanched at the thought of the hyperactive creation. "You've looked out for Sakura in the past when I couldn't. It annoys the hell out of me that she would go to you for help instead of her brother, but you protected her. Sakura refuses to stay with Tomoyo-san over the holidays, so…I need someone to look out for her."

Touya kept looking seriously at Syaoran. Syaoran stared right back.

"It was two years ago," Touya began again. "Sakura, Yukito and I were downtown at night time. It was that late but it was very dark. I had gone in to a shop, and Sakura and Yukito were standing outside. Sakura had decided to go in to a coffee shop just across the street, and she said she was fine to go on her own." Touya sighed. "Yukito kept watch of her as she went in to the shop. She was just walking out again when he was distracted by someone bumping in to him. He apologized for being in the way and, when he looked up again, he couldn't see Sakura anywhere."

Syaoran was now looking at cherry blossom tree that was planted in the school grounds. He was trying to keep his expression calm, which was hard when someone was talking about Sakura.

"Yukito began to panic when Yue told him that something was wrong with Sakura," Touya continued, also looking at the pink tree. "He came in to the shop to get me, and we both ran in the direction where Sakura was, with Yue telling Yukito where to go…We knew it was bad when we were led down an alleyway…and we were right." Touya paused a moment before continuing. He hated bringing up what he saw again, but he knew that Sakura felt a hundred times worse when she ever mentioned it. "There was a man, pinning Sakura against the wall. He had a knife in his hand, and it had blood on it…The knife was raised above Sakura's body, and the man was about to bring it down on her when I shouted at him. He took off down the alley and I chased after him. Yukito stayed with Sakura for a while, before he transformed in to Yue. I followed that man for only half a minute when I completely lost him. At a dead end. There where no passages off to the side; he had completely disappeared. When I ran back to Sakura, she was unconscious in Yue's arms. I told him to take her straight to the hospital while I phoned my father. Yue got her there in no time, and took her in to the Emergency Room as Yukito."

Touya looked over at Syaoran who's expression was blank. If it wasn't for the fact that Syaoran's face was paler and his fists shaking slightly, one would have thought that he didn't care about what had just been said. Touya could tell that he was trying to keep it together.

"When I got to the hospital, Yukito told me that Sakura had lost a lot of blood through a deep cut that was made in her arm. The doctor's had said that there would be some scarring that might never disappear. Sakura was terrified when she woke up. She wouldn't let anyone but her family and Yukito in to the room. We had to persuade her that the doctors only wanted to help her."

Touya sighed again, looking up to the sky. "Sakura has never spoken about what happened to her. To anyone. Tomoyo-san doesn't even know the details from Sakura's end. But, from that day, Sakura changed. First of all, she was too nervous to even set foot out of the house, even in daylight. Eventually she became stronger and was able to go out on her own again. But she put on a false face; she pretended to be brave when she was scared, pretended to be happy when she was sad. She's become more genuine in the past few months, but there are still times when I wonder if she will ever be the same. The person who attacked her took the innocence away from her eyes. She's seen the evil of the world, and she's more aware of things that she didn't see when she was younger. She can't get that back…and it kills me that I wasn't there to protect her."

Syaoran had stayed completely silent. He didn't know what to say. The tale of Sakura's past had silenced him, and even if he tried to open his mouth, he knew that no words would come out. Total shock had taken over him.

"If you've noticed a change in Sakura, then now you know why," Touya said, still watching Syaoran's expression. He knew that Syaoran was just putting up a front to seem unaffected, but Touya knew better. "What happened to her has made her slightly bolder. She's more sarcastic now, and she's willing to learn new things." Touya thought back to an incident not that long ago. "She thinks I don't notice when she's in her room learning things from that stuffed doll."

This made Syaoran look at Touya. He had never heard him openly let on that he knew about Sakura's magic. Touya gave him a look that said I'm-not-that-stupid.

"I thought you should know what happened to Sakura," Touya said, turning serious again, "because when we go away, and when I leave…I know that you will protect her for me."

Syaoran stared at Touya, hardly believing that he was asking him to look after Sakura. "Hai," Syaoran said.

Touya nodded slightly and began to walk towards Syaoran. He stopped just as he had walked past Syaoran. "And another thing you should now…" Touya said, keeping his back to Syaoran. "The man who attacked Sakura…I don't think he was human." Touya continued to walk on, leaving his last sentence buzzing around Syaoran's mind.

--------

Syaoran's mind was full of so many thoughts as he walked home that night. He couldn't believe what had happened to Sakura. It had only been a few months after he left her that it had happened. He wondered why she didn't tell him. They had become closer in the last few weeks that he stayed in Tomoeda; he thought she would have let him know.

Touya's words kept replaying themselves in Syaoran's head: _He had a knife in his hand with blood on it…he disappeared at the dead of the alley…he took the innocence away from her eyes…it kills me that I wasn't there to protect her_. It all made sense now: what Sakura didn't like it when Syaoran noticed her scar; why she was nervous in downtown Tomoeda at night before they first encountered the Magician; why she had begun to panic when she saw blood covering the scar on her arm.

And what about protecting her? Touya had openly said that he expected Syaoran to protect Sakura when he wasn't around. Was Syaoran not already doing that? Protecting Sakura from the new forces that were appearing? And Touya had said that he didn't think that attacker was human…did this mean that he might appear again.

Syaoran was interrupted from his thoughts by a water balloon barely missing his head. He sighed in frustration. "Don't you have any new tricks you could be doing?" he asked, looking up in the sky. "Or is this the extent of your magical ability?"

The Magician was hovering in the air above Syaoran's head. He shrugged innocently. "It's more fun this way," he said, conjuring up another balloon and aiming it at Syaoran, who easily dodged it.

"If you're going to float in the sky and act like a child, I'm going to go home," Syaoran said, and he started to walk across the park. "Come and find me when you have more interesting tricks to show." As he walked through the park, the Magician landed on the ground and began to walk beside him. Syaoran looked sideways at the creation. "What?" he asked, sharply.

"Oh, nothing," the Magician said, smiling slightly. "I just thought you'd be more willing to fight."

Syaoran was beginning to get peeved at the increasingly annoying creation. "Why would you think I am 'willing to fight?'" he asked, as the neared the trees.

The Magician smiled evilly. "Well, after my distraction last night, anything could have happened to your precious cherry blossom."

That did it. Syaoran released his sword and in one quick movement he had the Magician pinned up against tree with his arm, and the sword at his neck.

"That was unexpected," the Magician admitted, surprised at how fast the boy could move.

"When you 'attacked' me last night," Syaoran said, trying to stay calm and not beat the life out of the creation in front of him, "that was you trying to prevent me from getting to Sakura."

The Magician nodded slightly. "In a way…but I wasn't the one who was trying to hurt her."

"But you're the one who sent the force after her," Syaoran stated, keeping the sword dangerously close to the Magician's neck. "If I hadn't gotten away from you, then the force would have attacked her."

"You're a smart boy," the Magician said, quite concerned about the sword blade that was increasingly pressing harder against his neck. He may be an all-powerful force, but still- no-one enjoyed getting their throat cut. "But unfortunately, you beat the force to her house, and it had to withdraw itself." He paused. "How long are you going to stand here? You can't kill me, and you can't seal me."

"And you can't move away while I'm concentrating," Syaoran said, but as he spoke he heard footsteps coming closer and a pink aura moving along with it. That was enough to break his concentration.

"Until next time," the Magician said and he disappeared in a puff of smoke. Syaoran coughed as the smoke engulfed him, silently cursed himself at not focusing, and he turned around to face the person coming towards him.

"Syaoran-kun!" Sakura called as she came in to the park, staff in hand. "I felt the force and came over as soon as I could." She held her staff in front of her, ready to battle. "Where is the Magician? Where did he go?" Sakura looked over at Syaoran who was watching her with sad eyes. "Syaoran?" she asked.

Syaoran withdrew his sword and walked over to where Sakura was standing. When he reached her, he surprised both Sakura and himself by putting his arms around her. Sakura stood in shock a little, as Syaoran hugged her. "Um…Syaoran?" she whispered.

"I'm sorry," she heard Syaoran mumble. Sakura's eyes widened as she understood: Touya had obviously talked to Syaoran. She had no idea that he would do it so soon.

Sakura cautiously let her head rest on Syaoran's chest. "It's not your fault," she mumbled back, the heat slowly rising in her cheeks. Syaoran began to say something else, but Sakura silenced him. "No," she said gently, pulling away from him to look him in the eyes. She knew that he was going to say something about her arm. "I know what you're going to ask, and don't." She added more quietly, "I'll talk about it when I'm ready to."

Syaoran nodded his head and let his arms fall back to his sides. Sakura smiled at him thankfully, and Syaoran returned it with a small smile of his own.

Sakura looked around herself. "So, where's the Magician?" she asked.

"He disappeared again," Syaoran told her.

Sakura blinked. "Hoe!" she cried. "Again? I'm never going to be able to seal him if he keeps escaping before I get the chance! Why can't he just…"

Syaoran smiled as the old Sakura began to creep through again. Touya could be right in that Sakura might never be the same, but maybe, just maybe, there was a chance that she could return to being carefree and happy.

------------------------------------------------

my first reaction after finishing this chapter was, "phew", out of the chapters that i have planned, this was my least favourite one. i know i didn't mention tomoyo or rohan that much in it, but they'll have their chance . the next chapter has some Eriol mentioned in it...and i'm looking forward to writing it. i just love Eriol-kun!!

again, my apologies for it taking a while to get this chapter up. i want to finish the chapter plans for chappies 7 & 8 before i start to write chapter 6, but that shouldn't take too long!

ah! and thank-you so much for the reviews! i get a big smile everytime i get an email that says "Review for The Okugi Series".

and, you know, if you have any spare time waves subtly in the direction of the review button

elmo-doodle

17th December 2007

xx

ps. ever tried to do boxercise in a small computer room? sweatdrops i played DJ Tiesto's Pirates of the Carribean remix (i don't know why i even have it) and me and 3 of my friend started dancing madly. then we put a carol book on the floor and danced around it. and then tried to do the hakka. my dad says he's surprised that I haven't been suspended from school yet, hehe!


	6. AUTHOR'S NOTE

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

**First of all, I want to apologize for my severe lack of updates on this story. I feel really awful about this, since I've never left a story on hiatus for this amount of time. If you haven't checked my profile, my reason for updating was that I had lost the book in which I had written all my planning for The Okugi Series. I didn't make any copies of the plan, so I had pretty much lost everything for it. All I had left was a few brief notes for the next three chapters which was difficult to use without the planning book. I searched high and low for my book (I even moved EVERYTHING in my room around!) and couldn't find it.**

**UNTIL FIVE MINTUES AGO!!**

**I don't think I've ever jumped up and down so much! I'm so glad that I've finally found it! Although I am horribly annoyed with myself, since the book was in the shelves just outside my room! And I was looking for a black book, when it was actually blue! Argh!**

**But the good thing is that I've got it back again! And now I can continue with the Okugi Series!**

**So, first of all, I'm going to make a copy of my planning so that should I loose the book again, I will have another plan on the computer! And then I shall get right back to work on the next chapter!**

**Sorry again for the wait!**

**elmo-doodle**

**xx**


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